


Knowing Our Strengths

by Adm_Hawthorne



Series: Creating Our World [2]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, supercat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-15
Updated: 2017-02-07
Packaged: 2018-08-22 11:31:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 46,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8284312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adm_Hawthorne/pseuds/Adm_Hawthorne
Summary: Dragging in deep breaths and letting them out, Kara hesitantly released the other woman and wrapped her arms around herself. “I could so easily forget myself with you.”Cat nodded. “I understand the feeling.”========After finally admitting their attraction to each other, Kara and Cat work toward finding a way to balance their lives without hurting each other or those around them. (This is a follow up piece to "Photos Can Lie.")





	1. Vexation

_Cat dropped her hand and calmly waited._

_It was a tense few seconds for Kara before she could force her body into action, and, when she did, it was just short of super speed as she stepped up against Cat and leaned in to kiss her._

_It was breathless and light, just a feather touch, but it was enough. “Then I choose the place right beside you,” she breathed against Cat’s lips._

_The older woman smiled, reaching out to grab the suit and pull Kara back to her for another, deeper and more desperate kiss, commenting before their lips met, “Good.”_

* * *

 

Kara responded by wrapping her hands around the smaller woman and pulling their bodies flush as she matched Cat’s enthusiasm with her own. The cool night air rushing over their heated skin only accentuated the want they felt for each other.

Cat’s hands roamed freely over the younger woman’s body, skimming her strong shoulders and following the line of the suit to rest atop the symbol so prominent on Kara’s chest. Her fingers dug into the material, nails catching in the fabric as she held on through kiss after kiss.

It was Kara who pulled back, stepping away enough to break full body contact but keeping her hands on Cat’s body. “We can’t,” she said between deep breaths, “do more than this right now.”

The older woman closed her eyes and tried to center. “Your strength?”

“Yes.” Dragging in deep breaths and letting them out, Kara hesitantly released the other woman and wrapped her arms around herself. “I could so easily forget myself with you.”

Cat nodded. “I understand the feeling.” Pushing off the railing of her balcony, she walked toward the living room. “Come on, I could use a drink, and I’m sure you could use something to eat.”

“Please don’t be angry,” the younger blonde pleaded, wincing at the neediness her voice. “I just don’t want to hurt you.”

“I’m not angry,” Cat responded, not bothering to stop nor check to see if she was being followed. “I’ve just been horny for weeks, and now I’m ridiculously turned on.” She turned to make a beeline for the kitchen. “That sort of inconvenience tends to make me cranky,” she stopped at the island and began pulling things from the cabinets to make herself a martini, “as you know.”

Kara followed dutifully behind, taking a seat on the same stool she’d occupied the night before. “I’m sorry, Cat.”

“How many times do I have to tell you not to apologize?” The older woman took a long drink. She hummed as the liquid slid down her body, taking a moment to try and regain a bit more composure. “I knew what I was getting into when I made it clear I wanted to be with you romantically.”

“That makes it sound like a prison sentence.” Kara’s expression bounced from guilt to anger and back again. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to sacrifice anything.”

“I’m not.” Cat set the empty glass down with a thud and turned to begin warming up leftover chicken and rice. “Yesterday you said that, should you have a partner, you and they would have to do _something_ in order for sex to happen.”

She popped a bowl into the microwave and turned it on. “What is that _something_?” She turned to lean against the cabinets and crossed her arms, waiting impatiently for the answer.

Kara mentally cursed herself, yelled at all the gods she could think of, and wondered how her cousin handled this situation with Lois, or _if_ he’d handled this situation with Lois. “I actually don’t know.” She held a hand up to keep the other woman from breaking into a tirade. “But I did talk to my sister about it tonight, and she seems to think that a very small piece of Kryptonite would limit my powers enough that I wouldn’t be able to hurt you when we were… um, intimate.” She looked away, feeling her cheeks burn. “She’s looking into it and should know more in a couple of days.”

“I see.” Cat seemed to think on it as she took the bowl out and placed it in front of Kara along with a fork. “What does Kryptonite do, exactly?”

“To you, it’s harmless. To me?” Kara picked the fork up and pushed the rice around the bowl. “Well, it could kill me in large enough doses. It’s radiated pieces of my planet.”

“Wait a moment,” the older woman leaned over the island, eyes narrowing. “Are you telling me that you would have be exposed to _radiation_ in order to safely have sex with me?”

Kara ducked her head. “It’s not as bad as it sounds,” she tried to explain, hoping she was about to do a decent job of assuring Cat she wasn’t offering to slowly kill herself. “I don’t get radiation poisoning like you would if you were exposed to radiation that effects humans. It just _weakens_ me to the point of stopping my body’s functions if it’s a big enough piece or I’m close enough for a long enough amount of time. Radiation poisoning for me isn’t the same as it is for you. Besides, if I’m exposed to yellow sunlight after being exposed to Kryptonite, I will recover. I always have.”

Cat glowered for a moment as she considered this new piece of information. “It won’t hurt you long-term?”

“We don’t think so, but Alex is going to run some tests to make sure. When I train, I do it in a room filled with simulated Kryptonite, and I haven’t had any long-term side effects.” The younger woman’s face was full of forbidden apology. “I think the worst part, really, is that I have to actually wear it, which means… uh… no… no spontaneousness, if you get what I mean?”

“Well, let’s be honest, even _if_ we _could_ be spontaneous, you and I both know my schedule doesn’t allow for it, so I really don’t think there would a problem there.” Cat straightened, wrapping one arm around her waist as she tapped thoughtfully at her chin with her free hand. “I’ll look into a simulated sun bed like they use in the Artic. I don’t want to take any chances with your health.” Waving her hand dismissively at the protest she saw coming, she asked impatiently, “Do you know what the piece of jewelry will be?”

“We really haven’t gotten that far,” Kara uncomfortably answered between bites of food. “I assume some kind of necklace or maybe a bracelet.”

“When you know how big of a piece you need, let me know, and we’ll make a pendant for it.” Cat began making another drink as she spoke. “I don’t want you wearing some government issued, blocky, unsightly piece of nonsense.”

“Government?” The younger woman swallowed down the last bit of food through a hard lump in her throat.

“I thought your sister was an FBI agent, or did I miss something?” Cat gave the other woman a look over the rim of her martini glass that dared her to lie.

“No,” Kara shook her head and made a mental note to tell Alex about this later to keep the stories straight. “I’ll let her know about your offer.”

“It’s not an offer, _Kiera_ ,” the older blonde said with a smug smirk at the outrage that flashed across Kara’s face. “I’m _telling_ you what is going to happen. You are much too attractive to wear something ugly. It’s bad enough you wear those cardigans all the time.”

“I happen to love my cardigans, thank you.” The younger woman rolled her eyes and slipped from her seat to put the bowl and fork into the dishwasher. “…and thank you for the food.”

“You’re welcome.” Cat reached out to take Kara’s hand, pulling her closer to place a chaste kiss on her lips. “We’ll figure it out.”

“Yeah, I know we will. It’s just,” Kara leaned back in to steal a few more kisses, “I _really_ like doing that.”

The older woman grinned devilishly. “Well, nothing is stopping you from doing _that_.” She leaned in for another kiss. “In fact, nothing is really stopping either of us from getting to at least,” she rolled her eyes up in faux thought, “second base.”

Kara grinned. “Very valid point, Ms. Grant.” With a chuckle at Cat’s pointed stare, she swiftly picked the smaller woman up, much to the other woman’s weak protests, and, with a burst of speed, made her way to the living room sofa.


	2. Housekeeping

Kara awoke to the sound of Cat lightly snoring against her ear. She breathed in deeply, careful not to move too much as she slowly opened her eyes and glanced around the room. This time she didn’t feel like an invader in the master bedroom. It felt more like she was a welcome visitor, which made her grin. She liked feeling wanted.

Cat’s hand twitched in her sleep, causing chills from where it rested under the bottom of the tank Kara had borrowed last night all the way around her body and up her spine. Alex really had to help her figure out something. Heavy petting and snuggling up were all fine and well, but eventually, if something more didn’t happen, she was fairly certain she would explode, Cat’s libido issues aside.

It was the first time in Kara’s life that she could remember being so aroused that she literally felt as though she might crawl out of her skin and up the wall if she didn’t find some kind of relief soon. Her body quaked with the need to not just be touched, but to touch.

Tasting the other woman’s skin on the tip of her tongue as she nibbled up her neck last night had left Kara wanting to taste _everything_ , which was new. She’d never found herself daydreaming of simply tasting another being in the way she wondered what that would be like with Cat.

She had needs she didn’t even know she had.

She found she needed Cat to not just touch her but _claim_ her. She needed the older woman to allow her to find every spot that made Cat squirm and groan. She needed to know the scent that surrounded Cat when she was highly aroused and commit that scent to memory.

Last night, thanks in large part to her heightened senses, she learned what that scent was, and thinking about it this morning drove home how much she needed to quickly find a solution because not being able to feel, see, touch, and taste what she knew was there and more than willing to be given up to her was driving her slightly crazy.

Carefully, she tried to extract herself from the hold Cat had on her. She shifted slowly toward the edge of the bed, mindful of the leg and arm thrown over her body and cautious not to disturb the other woman or accidentally hurt her.

“You better not be sneaking off.” Cat’s voice was still sleep rough. “You have to be here when Carter gets home.”

“I’m not running off,” Kara answered with a chuckle. “I have to pee.”

“Superheroes pee?” The older woman grinned, rolling over and taking all the covers with her as she wrapped herself in the blankets. “Who knew?”

The other woman rolled her eyes as she slipped off the bed. “Funny.” Walking to the bathroom, she grinned at seeing her suit hanging once again on the back of the door. Yes, she definitely felt welcomed. “I’ll need to go home and get a pair of real clothes,” she called out before shutting the door.

Cat lay in bed, happily inhaling the scent of Kara on her sheets. Yes, they hadn’t got much further than some heavy petting, and, yes, it was damned frustrating, but she could live with being frustrated for the time being. In fact, she might be able to live with it permanently under the right set of circumstances. Worst case scenario, there were some voyeuristic things they could do. It wasn’t the most desirable option, but it was there.

Cracking one eye opening, she noted with a wry smile that the suit was still hanging on the back of the bathroom door. She needed to find a better place for it because Carter certainly didn’t need to know that Supergirl and Kara Danvers were one and the same. He did, however, need to know that she and Kara were going to give dating a try. She never kept anything from her son, and she wasn’t about to start. Generally, he didn’t handle change very well, but he already liked Kara, so that would be a good start.

The woman in question stepped out of the bathroom and walked to the balcony windows, throwing open the curtains. Cat watched in wonder as the younger woman’s body turned toward the rising sun as if it were a flower on a window sill. Kara’s arms rested slightly away from her body, palms up, and her eyes were closed as her face turned up to the bright yellow ball in the sky.

Cat chuckled. “Is that how you recharge?”

Kara turned around with a puzzled look on her face. “Recharge?”

“You’re powered by our yellow sun, aren’t you?” With a groan, Cat pushed herself up on bed, letting the covers pool around her and not bothering to fix her sleep shirt where it fell off one shoulder. “So I assume you, I don’t know, _recharge_ your powers in some way.”

“Oh,” the younger blonde seemed to withdraw a touch. “I’m not a battery, but the sun makes me feel… happy or rejuvenated, I guess. I didn’t realize I looked weird. It’s just that it,” she winced slightly as she nodded backwards toward the star in question, “makes me feel content inside.”

Cat nodded. “That make sense, and it doesn’t look weird. It does, however, put a whole new spin on Sunny Danvers, doesn’t it?” She patted the empty side of the bed and waited until Kara sat back down before letting her body fall over into the other woman’s lap. “Much better.”

Kara laughed lightly. “I guess I kept you up too late last night?”

“It was worth it,” Cat countered with a tired smirk. “But, seriously,” she let out a happy little sigh as the other woman began to run her fingers through her hair, “we do have tell Carter that you and I are dating, and the sooner the better.”

“Do you want to wait a little bit to see if this is going to work first? I’m not saying we should hide it from him, but,” Kara gave the other woman’s head a gentle scratch, “I know how change adverse he is, and I’d hate for him to get comfortable with an idea only for it to all change again in a week.”

“Are you saying we’re only going to last a week?” Cat opened her eyes to look up at the blue eyes staring down with panic at her. She held up a hand to stop whatever response she was about to get. “I know what you meant, sweetheart, but I made a promise to my son that I wouldn’t keep anything from him, and I intend to keep it.” She rolled her eyes, adding as an afterthought, “With the exception, of course, of your alter ego. He doesn’t need to know you’re also Supergirl. At least, not yet.”

“That’s probably for the best.” Kara glanced toward the floor beside the bed and squinted. “The city is starting to wake up.”

Cat pushed up to sit against the other woman. “What did you just do?”

“I can focus my vision to zoom in on things like a camera lense, and you know I have x-ray vision.” The younger woman shrugged. “I balance the two out to see through some things but not others. It comes in handy, like right now. I can see how bad traffic is already.”

He older woman frowned. “And why would you need to check that?”

“I need to fly home, brush my teeth, shower, put on street clothes, and then make it back here before Carter arrives home. According to your schedule, he’s supposed to be here in three hours, which means traffic matters if I’m going to be back at a reasonable time.” Kara sighed. “I really should fly home.”

Cat seemed inconvenienced. “I don’t like the idea of you having to go home and then take a bus here every time you need to change out of the suit. I also don’t like the idea of you taking a bus.” She turned her head to place a kiss on the other woman’s cheek. “Call my driver to meet you at your apartment, and, when come back, bring some clothes and such. I have a feeling you’ll be here enough to justify giving you a little space in the back of my closet. Besides,” she crawled out of the pile of covers and walked over to run her hand over the hanging cape, “I need to find a place for this. I might as well make a little extra room for a few of your god awful cardigans.”

“You _like_ my cardigan, too,” Kara replied with a hint of exasperated humor.

“In fact,” the older woman turned to looked at the still sleep disheveled woman in her bed over, “I like them even less now that I know they’re hiding arms that look like that.” She glanced over her shoulder to the suit. “Nothing you wear should have sleeves. It’s atrocious you’re hiding something so artful.”

“Okay, now you’re being ridiculous,” the younger blonde said with a snort, though she may have flexed her arms just a touch. “I need to go, Cat.”

“I know. See you in a couple of hours?” Cat hated herself for sounding needy. She didn’t do needy.

Kara’s smile beamed. “You won’t even know I was gone.”

With a nod of her head, Cat turned to step into the bathroom and close the door to allow Kara the privacy to change and give herself some space before she threw her body back on top of of the young woman's again.

Damn that woman and her subtle muscle flexing.


	3. Melting

“How’s my baby sister this morning?” Alex’s voice was far more cheerful than Kara’s call warranted, which made the younger woman suddenly suspicious.

“It was eventful,” she cautiously replied as she flew among the skyline of National City toward her apartment. “How was yours?”

“Productive.” Kara nodded to herself. ‘Productive’ from her sister normally meant she’d discovered something science-y and was geeking out about it.

She smiled, thinking of how buoyant her older sister normally became when she learned some new and fascinating piece of science. “What kind of productive?”

“The kind that will likely get my little sister laid,” Alex replied with a note of triumph in her voice.

Kara’s flightpath faltered for just a second. “ _Alex_ ,” she hissed with embarrassment, “I hope you aren’t on speaker phone at the DEO right now.”

“I would place my hopes in something else, if I were you, Supergirl.” Hank’s voice rang through the line, and Kara wished for instant death.

“Don’t be mad,” Alex quickly spoke to cut off any protests. “If you remember, I told you I’d have to bring Hank in on this.”

“Oh my god,” Kara groaned, reaching her apartment in near record time. She pushed her windows open and glided in, setting down gently before taking off toward her clothes to do a little packing. “Okay, so what did you find out?”

“As your luck would have it,” Hank answered, and she swore he sounded like he was enjoying the level of embarrassment this conversation was causing her, “your cousin has gone through similar issues. I took the liberty of contacting S.T.A.R. Labs once Alex explained your… situation. I have a contact there, a _friend,_ who told me that they’d already helped Superman figure this one out.”

“Hank made a good point,” Alex added helpfully, “there’s no reason to reinvent the wheel.”

“Right,” Kara groaned. She’d already changed into street clothes and was now pondering which cardigans to leave at Cat’s before she mentally slapped her forehead. She could probably get away with wearing something other than work clothes while there. She rolled her eyes at herself and pulled a few t-shirts, some comfy yoga pants, and a pair of jeans to go along with her suit, a change of work clothes, and an oversized t-shirt and shorts for sleeping.

She paused for a moment in her movements and narrowed her eyes in thought. “I’m going to have to buy something cuter than this.”

“What?” Alex’s voice sounded puzzled. “You’re going to have to buy something cuter than reinventing the wheel?”

“No, I’m… never mind. It doesn’t matter.” Kara huffed out an uncomfortable sigh. “So, my cousin found a solution, which makes sense. I suppose I could have contacted him myself for that information.”

“Even if you did, he couldn’t help you. There isn’t a lot of known samples of Kryptonite, and what samples we do have are locked away in various research facilities, so getting a piece takes time and contacts,” Hank explained warily. “Each piece has to be accounted for in some way or another.”

Kara stopped packing to really focus on the conversation. “That sounds like bad news for me.”

“More like embarrassing news for you,” Alex corrected. “Hank’s contact explained that Superman had done essentially what I had suggested last night. He wears a piece just large enough to allow him to have intercourse without breaking his partner in half, but, in order for him to obtain a piece to use for the purpose, S.T.A.R. Labs had to notate where the piece went and for what use.”

“Alex, no,” Kara pleaded. “Please don’t tell me what I think you’re going to tell me.”

“It’s the only way we can get it.” Hank sounded sorry, at least. “We could contact your cousin for a sample, but…”

“He doesn’t keep any.” With a heavy sigh, Kara forced herself to go back to packing. “He told me he has people he trusts keep samples just in case, but, no, you’re right, Hank. He couldn’t help me _directly_ with this part.”

“Besides, S.T.A.R. Labs has both the equations and the equipment to figure out exactly how much you will need to make this work correctly without it causing you long-term issues.” Alex sounded more guarded.

“I don’t like that idea, either,” Kara agreed with the unspoken concern in her voice. “Is there any way for us to get the equation without giving people we don’t know information on how to hurt me?”

“Maybe,” Hank answered thoughtfully, “but we’d still need a sample of Kryptonite.”

Kara let out a long, deep groan. Nothing was ever easy these days. “Okay, how about this? You guys work on those equations, and I’ll think about where we might be able to get Kryptonite. I’ll make a few calls.”

“Calls?” Alex sounded skeptical. “Who are you going to call?”

“Ghostbusters,” Kara answered flatly. “It’s my secret. Look,” she closed her suitcase and checked the time. Her ride should be downstairs waiting. “Will you work on the equations and let me know?”

“Yeah,” her sister reluctantly agreed. “Don’t contact anyone that might get you in trouble, okay?”

“I’ll be fine. I promise, okay? I have to go. Cat’s expecting me at her place soon.”

Kara could hear her Hank chuckle. “Well then, we won’t keep you waiting.”

Tapping the phone off, Kara did a onceover of her place and then walked downstairs. Her head was spinning with this new information. She was excited that it could be done, but where in the heck was she going to find a Kryptonite sample?

Well, one issue at a time, and, right now, that issue was explaining to Carter what was going on between her and his mom. She swallowed down her nervous energy at that thought as she slid into the back of the black sedan waiting for her.

Everything was happening so quickly and not quickly enough. The strain was going to drive her nuts.

* * *

 

“Something’s bothering you.” Cat stepped aside to allow Kara to walk in with her suitcase in tow.

“I had a conversation with Alex about our issue regarding se…”

“Not now,” the older woman hissed under her breath.

Before Kara could protest, she heard the reason for the other woman’s interruption.

“Mom, who was that?” Carter jogged around the corner, concern etching his features. “If that was Dad about his vase, I promise I’ll… _Kara_!” The younger Grant grinned, rushing up to greet her with a hug. “Mom didn’t tell me you were coming over.”

His stepped back, turning an accusatory look toward his mother before turning back to the other woman and then down to the suitcase in her hand. “Oh.” His excitement dissipated as quickly as it’d come. “Are you leaving, Mom?” His voice was timid with a tinge of sadness. “I thought you said we were having movie night tonight?”

“We are, sweetheart,” Cat gently assured as she ushered everyone into the living room. “But, before we do, Kara and I need to talk to you about a few things.”

“Okay,” he drew the word out while he slowly took a cautious seat in the chair opposite the sofa the two woman claimed. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes, everything is fine.” Cat glanced between the two, trying for the best way to start the conversation. “Carter,” she said in a carefully measured voice, “do you remember a few months ago when you asked me about John?”

He seemed to think about it for a moment before hesitantly nodding his head yes. “You mean, when I asked you if he was going to be my stepdad?”

Kara tried to hold her incredulous snort in, only failing marginally. John Stamos was _not_ a man Cat Grant would keep long-term. He wasn’t interesting enough to hold her intellectual attention, and, although he was pretty to look at, he wasn’t physically interesting enough to hold Cat’s more carnal attentions for very long. 

The older woman gave her a hard look. “Yes,” she turned back to her son. “Do you remember what I told you?”

Carter nervously glanced at Kara and then down to the ground. “Yes,” he said with a blush tinging his ears.

His mothing smiled encouragingly at him. “It’s okay. Tell us what I said.”

“You said,” he furtively glanced at the younger woman again, “that the next person you dated would have to know you and appreciate all of you, not just your looks or the… the good parts.” His facial expression said he didn’t like implying his mother had bad parts. “You said John was fun to be around, but he wasn’t the right person, and,” he gave Kara an extremely anxious look, “then you said the person would have to be like… um… like your assistant because she was all of those things.”

Kara’s eyes widened in shock as her head whipped around to meet Cat’s very amused gazed. “Really? All this time?”

“Really,” the older woman confirmed, affectionately patting Kara on the knee. “We’ve been playing this game with each other for far longer than I think you realize.”

The younger blonde’s face broke into a brilliant smile as her eyes danced with delight. She reached out to place her hand atop Cat’s where it still rested on her knee as the wash of emotions ranging from happiness to something more lascivious flooded across her face.

Carter shifted uncomfortably in his seat, bringing the two woman back to the present. Cat cleared her throat and turned back to her son. “Carter, instead of someone _like_ Kara,” she took in a deep breath to steel herself, “what if I told you that I am seeing  _Kara_?”

He seemed to let this new information soak in slowly, looking first at his mother and then to Kara, who gave him a small, affirmative nod. “So,” he pulled the word out as he considered everything, “You would be here more often?”

Kara tensed but tried for natural. “Ideally, yes I would, but, but only if you’re comfortable with that.”

“Would you two, like, kiss and hold hands and stuff while I was around?” He scrunched his face up a little.

Despite herself, Cat chuckled. “It’s likely you’d see us do that from time-to-time, yes.”

He withdrew into his chair as he stared at the floor while he thought. “Does this mean you’d spend more time with me, too, Kara?” His eyes flicked up for a quick second, searching for something, before falling back to the ground.

“I’d like to if you want that,” she answered with affection. “I think that would be great.”

He nodded in acknowledgement. As they anxiously waited for his feedback, he continued to drill a hole in the floor with his eyes. After a long minute, he spoke in unrushed sentences. “Well… I like Kara better than John or any of the other guys you’ve dated.” He gave his mother a questioning look, and she nodded her assurances. “I didn’t know you liked girls, Mom, but, I mean, that’s okay, I guess.”

“Carter, you know I’ve always told you that what makes a person is who they are on the inside, not the out.” She tried to keep the trepidation out of her voice. “Does the fact Kara is a woman bother you?”

“No, not really.” He shrugged a little. “I think,” he finally looked up at them, pulling another scrunched faced of disgust as he did so, “that it’s more I might see you two making out.” He stuck his tongue out and made a little gagging sound. “I mean, who wants to see their mom making out with her girlfriend?” He huffed a little. “That’s just gross.”

Cat breathed a sigh of relief.

Kara actually laughed. “Well, bud,” she offered between chuckles, “at least you’ll never have to wonder if I like your mom if you happen to walk in on us kissing.” She winked at him, and he blushed.

“Ew.” Straightening in his chair he seemed to step out of his withdrawn place. “Its okay, Mom. Really. I know how much you like her. You talk about her more than you talk about Supergirl, and you _really_ like Supergirl.” Cat shifted slightly at that observation, trying to ignore Kara’s deep amusement. “So, are you going to spend the night, Kara?”

The younger woman began to stutter out a response, which was quickly saved by Cat, who answered with a question of her own. “Would you be okay with her staying here tonight?”

“If she stays, can we play Settlers after dinner?” His eyes began to sparkle with possibilities for the night.

His mother sighed. He was trying to leverage Kara staying for a later bedtime and a board game on a school night. She wanted to be annoyed, but he _was_ her son, and he was clearly learning a thing or two from her about negotiations. “If your room is clean and you’ve completed all your homework for tomorrow by the time dinner is ready, then yes.”

“What if,” he raised his eyebrows in challenge, “I promise to clean my room tomorrow night along with the bathroom, but do all my homework for tomorrow before dinner tonight?”

Cat snorted. “Both bathrooms.”

He thought on it for a moment. “Deal.”

“Now go upstairs and finish your homework while Kara and I start dinner.”

From her observation spot, Kara unsuccessfully tried to keep her chuckles at bay as she watched Carter pop up to give his mom and then her a hug before heading to his room. “That went well,” she commented with no small amount of relief. “If his biggest concern is running into us in a make out session, I think I can live with that.”

Cat leaned over to grab a quick kiss. “Me, too.” Standing, she nodded toward the stairs. “Why don’t you go drop off your suitcase and then come help me in the kitchen?”

Kara beamed as she complied, happily heading up to Cat’s room with a proverbial bounce in her step.

* * *

 

“What if I went to bed super early tomorrow night?” Carter was stalling after their board game, and it was starting to anger Cat.

Kara had seen the fight coming and had wondered if she should help. She didn’t want to overstep, but, after sensing the other woman’s headache coming on, she decided to risk it. “Carter, bud, this isn’t the last time you’ll see me. I’ll be here for breakfast tomorrow morning, and I’ll probably be over at some point this coming week, assuming my boss doesn’t keep me working late.”

He halted his negotiations tactics for a moment. “But,” he said with confusion, “Mom is your boss.”

“At CatCo, I’m her boss,” Cat clarified, throwing the other woman a thankful look. “Outside of CatCo, I’m her… _girlfriend_.” It was clear she didn’t like the moniker but was allowing it because it was the term he had used earlier. “The two aren’t and can’t be interchangeable.”

He frowned. “Sounds complicated.”

“It is,” Kara confirmed with a frustrated sigh. “More than you can know, bud, but the point is that you going to bed now isn’t going to stop you from seeing me later, okay?”

Carter looked to his mother for confirmation. When she gave a nod, he reluctantly stood up. “Okay, so I’ll see you tomorrow morning?”

“Unless an emergency comes up,” the younger woman replied gently, “Yes, you’ll see me at breakfast, okay? Goodnight, Carter.”

He nodded, giving her a hug and then his mom before heading to his bedroom for the night.

“Have I mentioned yet how amazed I am at how quickly he’s taken a liking to you?” Cat shook her head in disbelief as she stood to put the game away. “Are all Kryptonians the Pied Piper, or is it just _you_?”

“It may be all of us,” Kara replied with a faux apologetic grin. “My cousin has this happen to him a lot, too.” She shrugged. “There’s just something about us that kids like.” She held her hands up in mock innocence. “Kids and puppies.”

The older woman feigned annoyance. “You’re both full of super surprises, aren’t you?” She turned to head to the kitchen. “Do you want something to drink?”

Kara followed, taking a seat on what was quickly becoming her stool. “Water?”

Cat poured her a glass before starting on a cosmo for herself. “Can you get intoxicated?”

The younger woman took a long drink as she thought about her answer. “Yes, but it takes _a lot_ to do it.”

The other woman raised an inquisitive eyebrow as she sipped her cocktail, and Kara rolled her eyes. “When I turned 21, Alex decided to take me out and actually get me drunk. She said it was a rite of passage, so I agreed to go, but I’m pretty sure she wished she’d never tried.”

She smirked. “It took 2 handles of vodka and 3 handles of Everclear just to get me buzzed. By then, my sister was so blitzed that I insisted we call it a night. I walked the buzz off between the bar and the car, which was parked across the street. I drove her home and poured her into bed.” She laughed. “She woke up with a killer hangover the next morning.”

Tilting her head, Cat raised both eyebrows in question. “Did you have a hangover?”

“Nope.” Kara’s smirk turned into a grin. “I don’t think Alex has ever forgiven me for not being able to be as doggedly sick as she was that next morning.”

Walking around the island, Cat crossed her arms and leaned beside the other woman. “Are all of your senses heightened compared to ours?”

“Yes and no.” Kara turned on the stool to face Cat. “I mean, you know I’ve trained myself to deaden my sense to some extent. If I allowed them to be at max all the time, it’d drive me crazy from the constant over stimulation.”

“So,” the older woman pursed her lips in thought as she formulated her next question. “Does that mean your sense of touch is deadened most of the time? Do you actually _feel_ me when I touch you, when I kiss you, or is it some kind of approximation?”

The corners of Kara’s mouth flicked down. “It’s not an approximation. I _feel_ you. I just don’t feel you as intensely as I would if I didn’t deaden that sense. It’s difficult to explain, but, in answer to what I think you’re asking me, no, I don’t feel you like I probably could if I allowed myself to let go, but it’s not because I don’t _want_ to. It’s because I don’t know how I would respond if I did, and I don’t…”

“Want to hurt me.” Cat dejectedly interrupted. She released a long, heavy sigh. “You said you had a solution?”

“Yes, but I need to find some Kryptonite to make it work, and I _can’t_ just take some from the government because they’d want to know why. If I told them why, then they’d know that I was… well, _you know_ ,” she closed her eyes at the feel of the tips of her ears heating up. “But they’d also know exactly how much Kryptonite it would take to weaken me long-term without killing me, and I don’t think I want them to know that.”

Cat nodded. “I don’t want them to know that, either.” She pushed off the island and moved to clean up from her drink. “Do you have any idea where to get some or even how much you need?”

“No and not yet.” Kara handed over her glass. “Alex is working on the equation to figure out how much. My job is to find a sample once she knows. I think I’ll reach out to Kal tomorrow. If anyone will know, it’s him, and, if I’m lucky, he won’t ask me why.”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Cat replied with a chuckle. “Kara, why does this embarrass you so much? You’re a grown woman. If you want to have sex, there’s no reason why you should be embarrassed about it. Lots of people have sex. There’s no law against it.”

“I know that, but,” the younger woman began to fidget, “it’s just that… okay, you just have to understand, Cat, that I never thought it was something I would ever be able to do, so I never really allowed myself to think about it further than an abstract idea to help me when I… um… _needed_ help.” Her eyes flickered around the room, unable to hold contact with the other woman. “To think that I might actually be able to be intimate with something _and_ to know it’s someone I really care about is… well, it’s… I don’t know.” She sighed, forcing herself to finally meet the other woman’s eyes. “It’s exciting and scary and a bunch of other emotions that I can’t really describe but that make me feel really shaky-in-a-good-way about it.”

She awkwardly shrugged. “I’m a little embarrassed, yeah. I mean, I’m a virgin. The furthest I’ve ever gotten with _anyone_ was first base until… well, until you.” Her face burned with the force of her blush. “I mean, I’m faster than a bullet and stronger than a tank, but, when it comes to… um… to sex,” the word was a little breathy, “I get a little scared.”

Cat set the dishtowel in her hand down and walked back around the island until she was standing in front of the other woman. Bending down, she made sure they were eye level with each other before she reached out to place a reassuring hand on Kara’s cheek. “I don’t want you to rush into anything or do anything with me that you don’t want to do or aren’t ready to do, okay? If all of this is too much and all you want to do for the time being is cuddle, then that’s what we’ll do, and, if you don’t want to touch at all right now, then all you have to do is tell me. I don’t want you to feel anything but safe with me.”

Kara reached up to rest her hand on the older woman’s extended forearm. “I know, and I do feel safe with you. That’s why I want to do this.” She locked her eyes with Cat’s. “I want to do this _so, so_ much.”

She swallowed thickly. “Last night, when we were on the sofa, I thought I was going to crawl out of my skin because we couldn’t do more. I think about you. I wonder,” she steadied herself, forcing out the words through her embarrassment, “what you would look like when you orgasm and how you would taste. I think about what it would feel like to have all of you against all of me, and I…,” she slowly licked her lips, “…I _want_ you. I want you to _take_ me. I want it all,” her voice lowered, pupils contracting. “I _need_ you.”

Cat swallowed through the dryness in her throat and took in a ragged breath. “When you’re aroused, your pupils contract.” She pulled in a deep breath of air. “When humans are aroused, our eyes dilate.”

“Like yours are now?” Kara asked in a raspy voice as she raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, exactly like now,” Cat hoarsely replied. She stood up, dragging her fingernail along the other woman’s jawline before letting her hand drop to her side. “Okay,” she said with a nod, taking in more deep breaths of air. “But promise me you’ll tell me if you change your mind or need more time.”

Kara nodded, chewing on her bottom lip for a moment as she tried to regain some of her lost control. “I will.”

“Good,” Cat nodded, stiffly walking to the stairs. “Good,” she repeated awkwardly. “I’m going to take a cold shower.”

The younger woman nodded. “I’m going to go to go for a flight.” She waited until she heard the shower running before slipping upstairs to change into her suit and slip into the cool night air from Cat’s bedroom balcony window.

She really needed to find a sample of Kryptonite before they both melted from need.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How am I doing?


	4. Adjusting

Kara awoke to the smell of bacon floating through the closed bedroom door. She deeply breathed in the smell of Cat and bacon and grinned. Everything was wonderful, and she never wanted to leave, but, then again, bacon.

Slowly pushing out of the nest of pillows and blankets she’d managed to wrap up in since the older woman left her side earlier, she stumbled to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Bacon was important, but so was not scarring Carter by showing up at the breakfast table in nothing but her underwear and a black tank top.

With the help of super speed, she dressed quickly to head down to the smell of bacon and the presence of Cat. Kara’s grin turned into an almost feral at her own thoughts. There were two things waiting for her in the kitchen, and she couldn’t wait to eat either one.

She snorted at her own tasteless mental joke as she made her way into the kitchen to find the object of one of her hungers standing over the coffee pot.

“It was the bacon, wasn’t it?” Cat shook her head in mock disapproval.

Kara made a beeline for the coffee pot. “Maybe,” she said with a chuckle, happily taking the offered cup. After a long, savoring sip, she released a deep, throaty, appreciative hum. “This is good.”

Cat nodded, slowly licking her lips as she watched the scene. “The bacon,” she began with a crackle in her voice, “will be overdone if I don’t start on the eggs. Carter will want his scrambled.” She couldn’t help the flirtatious little smirk that graced her lips as she asked with as much innocence as she could manage, “How do you like your eggs in the morning?”

The terrible pick-up line wasn’t lost on Kara, who rolled her eyes but flushed just a touch. “Scrambled is fine,” she answered from behind the rim of her coffee mug.

Carter bounded in a moment later with his backpack slung over his shoulder and a pleased look on his face. “You’re still here!” His happiness radiated as he looked up at the younger woman.

“I am,” she agreed with a confused nod. “I… um… there weren’t any emergencies, so…” Blinking away her thoughts, she glanced at her phone to check the time. “Oh, I should really hurry up and eat or I’m going to be late for work. I’ve got to be there by eight.”

“But Mom doesn’t get to work until nine?” He looked over to Cat, who was dishing servings of various sizes onto three plates.

“My work schedule is different from Kara’s,” she dryly replied. Her eyes narrowed as she looked over the egg portions, and, with a dissatisfied grunt, she moved more eggs onto the plate that already held most.

“Besides,” Kara added while walking around the island to pick up the oven mitt and pull the bacon out, “Ms. Grant owns the company _and_ the building. She can pretty much do whatever she wants.”

The younger Grant shot the two women a confused look. “Ms. Grant?”

“Only during regular office hours,” Cat answered with a raise of her eyebrows that said there was to be no more discussion on it. She pushed Kara away to distribute the bacon as she had the eggs. One plate had a small portion of each, which she kept for herself. The second had slightly larger portions than her own, which she handed to her son. The third was piled down with food. That one she slide over to Kara. “Will that do?”

The younger woman beamed and leaned over to place a light kiss on Cat’s cheek. “Yes! Thank you. It looks delicious.”

Carter made gagging sounds from across the kitchen island.

“One day,” Kara said between bites of food, “You’re going to find someone you want to kiss, and then it won’t be gross anymore.”

“There are already people I want to kiss,” he admitted with an unapologetic shrug toward his mother’s shocked expression. “It’s like I said before. Seeing your mom kiss her girlfriend is kind of icky. I mean, who _wants_ to see that kind of stuff?”

Cat let out a long, irritated sigh. “Okay,” she said in a voice the other woman recognized and immediately responded to by quickly finishing her last bite and making a grab for her tablet, “on _that_ note, I think it’s time for us to move on.”

She began filling the dishwasher as she spoke. “Carter, I will be late picking you up today. I have a meeting with Ellen about a collaboration she wants to do with me regarding Supergirl. Of course, I have no plans to give up exclusivity to her, but it’s important to keep Ellen as a contact.” She turned toward him to make sure he’d caught what she’d said.

He absentmindedly nodded as he ate, thought it was clear he was paying close attention to what she was saying.

She nodded more to herself than to him and continued on, her voice flipping fully professional. “Kiera,” she said with small bite to the words, smirking to herself when Kara jumped to attention and made a mad grab for the tablet sitting on the counter nearby, “I expect James to have his proofs on my desk by the time I arrive today.”

The younger woman hustled to unlock the tablet to make the note. “Yes, Ms. Grant.” Her tone was just as professional. “You have a 9:30 today with Perry White,” she began as her fingers flew across the screen. “It’s a conference call, and I’ve already arranged for someone to interrupt around 9:45.”

“Acceptable, but I would prefer 9:40 if possible.” Cat pulled her phone up to her face and scowled. “And tell Martha I’m not interested in vacationing with her at the vineyard this winter.” She rolled her eyes in her signature overly dramatic way. “Honestly, how many times must I tell that woman no? She should know by now that she’s bad for my brand. I can’t be associated with a known convict, even _if_ she claims ‘it’s a good thing.”

“Yes, Ms. Grant.” Kara nodded and tried not to chuckle. Her eyes scrolled through the day’s itinerary, and she bit her lip in mild frustration. “Lunch today with Mr. Trump at La Chic’s.” She had hoped the two of them could have lunch. “Would you like for me to preorder anything for you?”

Cat rolled her eyes. “Cancel it.”

“Right.” The younger blonde gave an approving nod. “Canceling _that_.” Her eyes widened in excitement at she noticed something that might save Carter from having to wait for his mom. “If we cancel with Trump, I can push your meeting with Ellen up, which should allow you to pick Carter up on time.”

“Good.” Cat casually dropped her phone into her purse. “Do it, and order a wrap for lunch, and…” She seemed to think on it for a moment. “…something for you.”

Kara’s eyes visibly brightened. “Of course, Ms. Grant.”

Carter watched the dialogue with wide eyes, his head going back and forth between the two women as if he were observing a tennis match. “Um,” he quietly interrupted, “this is kind of weird.”

Both adults shifted their attention to him. Cat shot Kara a worried look before giving her full attention to her son. “What is, sweetheart?”

“You two just, I don’t know, dropped into work mode, I guess?” He uncomfortably shrugged. “It’s just weird to see now that Kara is a person.” His head quickly flicked toward the younger woman, panic in his eyes. “Not that you’re _not_ a person. It’s just that…”

“I know, Carter,” she gently reassured, though she did give the older woman a hard side-eye, “and it’s fine.” Reaching out, she gave his arm a comforting pat. “And I could see where seeing us in ‘work mode’ after seeing us not in work mode could be weird. Sorry, bud.”

Cat noticeably winced. “I’m sorry, too, Carter. All of this will take some adjusting to for all of us. Would it be better if we _didn’t_ talk about work when we’re home?”

“Maybe,” he scrunched his face in thought, “but only because you _never_ stop working. I mean, it’s okay to talk about work stuff, but maybe you could _not_ do it when we’re doing family stuff?”

“Family?” Kara whispered the question on her suddenly breathless voice.

Cat gave a small nod. She kept her eyes on her son, but she placed a calming hand on the young woman next to her. “We can do that.”

“Okay.” He frowned at the clock hanging on the kitchen wall. “I guess you have to go now, huh, Kara?”

“I… I…” she tried to shake her shock. “Yes.” She swallowed a few times, clutching the tablet closer to her chest. “Yes, I _do_ need to… uh… I should go now so I can…”

“You should ride to work with me,” Cat cut in in gently, wrapping her hand around the other woman’s elbow to keep her in place. “I think Carter would like it if we both saw him off to school, wouldn’t you, sweetheart?”

“That’s be great,” he eagerly replied before his mood fell. “But, then Kara will be late for work.”

“Well, it’s like she said,” Cat motioned for them all to start moving toward the door, her hand guiding the still thunderstruck younger woman, “I _do_ own the company, and, if I make my own assistant late for work, then I think that’ll be fine.”

Carter happily bounced toward the door. “Okay,” he called over his should, completely oblivious to the emotions he’d stirred up in Kara and blind to the comfort his mother was trying to convey to the younger woman with just a single point of physical connection.

* * *

 

“Kara, are you going to be alright?” Cat leaned back into her seat after motioning for the driver to move. Carter was bounding up the steps to school, and, now that she’d seen to her son, it was time to see to her… well, see to Kara.

“He called us a family.” The younger woman slowly shook her head. “Cat, we’re barely dating.”

“Carter tends to move faster than I do.” Cat pulled her sunglasses off and threw them into the top of her purse before turning to look at the woman riding in the backseat beside her. “I can talk to him about it.”

“It’s not that I don’t like the idea,” Kara replied slowly. “I do… _eventually_ , but I don’t think I’m ready to jump straight into a family. I barely even _know_ the family I have. I mean, the Danvers, yes, but not Kal. He and I are _just now_ getting to know each other, and I don’t know the first thing about being a… well, not a parent, but… you know, like, a real adult with actual responsibilities.”

“Are you serious?” The older woman snorted. “You save people on a _regular_ basis. How can you _possibly_ think you’re not ready for ‘actual responsibilities’ when all you do all day is be responsible?”

“It’s not the same,” Kara protested, finally seeming to shake her shock. “I mean, its one thing to go save a person from a burning building or pull a snake out of a tree or make sure your latte is hot when you get to work in the morning. It’s another thing _entirely_ to be responsible for making sure another being is growing up to be a good person. That’s not… no,” she shook her head, “I’m not ready for that, and,” she quickly added, holding her hands up in a show of innocence, “I’m _not_ suggesting that I would _ever_ overstep my boundaries with Carter. He’s _your_ son, but the implication of ‘family’ in the context of me dating you and what that might mean to him honestly scares the crud out of me.”

Cat frowned in thought for a moment. “It will be fine,” she finally offered in a soft voice. “Carter can get excitable, and, when he does, he jumps from point A to point D, but that doesn’t mean _you_ have to jump with him. We just have to make sure he understands where _we_ are as a couple so that we can manage his expectations.”

The younger woman sighed. “I don’t want to disappoint him.”

“And _I_ don’t want to run you off because my son tried to get us married before we’ve even decided if we like the same TV shows.” Cat smiled. “Don’t be scared off by this. If you’re going to be scared off, let it be for something _really_ worth it, like the first time you see me after I haven’t slept in two days straight and am only living on caffeine, anger, and air.”

“I’ve seen it,” Kara replied with a wrinkled up nose. “That was scary, but kind of cute.”

Cat’s eyes widened. “Cute?!”

“Sure, you’re cute when you’re frazzled.” Kara’s shoulders relaxed and her voice began to even. “Of course, I’d never tell you that in the heat of the moment.”

“That’s probably for the best,” Cat agreed as she glanced out the car’s windows. “We’re almost there. You know you’ll need to take the employee elevator.”

“Yeah, I assumed as much.” With a wave of her hand, Kara cut off whatever additional instructions were about to be handed to her. “I need to get out here anyway. I have to get your latte.”

“I’d ask how you’re going to make it to work on time, but I think it’s better if I don’t know,” Cat said with a shake of her head. “I’ll see you in 20 minutes… _Kiera_.”

Kara leaned down and nodded, rolling her eyes as she closed the door to a smirking Cat Grant.

 


	5. Anxiety

“James, Ms. Grant has requested your proofs on her desk before she gets here this morning.” Kara rushed into Olsen’s office with a gust of air following in her wake from her super speeded sprint into the building.

“Whoa.” He chuckled to himself as he reached out to grab the papers threatening to fly off his desk from the sudden blast of wind. “Running late?”

She smiled shyly. “A little,” she offered as an apology. “I had a late morning, and Cat will be here any minute.” She turned her head slightly to listen for the elevator and released a relieved sigh when she heard nothing. “Do you have those proofs?”

“Yeah.” He pushed the jumbled paperwork aside and pulled the proofs from the bottom of the stack to hand them over. “You okay? You seem pretty off this morning?”

“Oh, yeah, I just,” she awkwardly tried to sidestep, “was thrown off my normal morning routine, but, everything’s fine.” She tried for a cheerful smile, but it turned into more of a nervous grimace. “Really, everything’s great.”

“Obviously not,” he replied, disapproval clearly making his features. “You want to talk about it?”

She clutched the proofs in one hand and the latté, which was growing cold, in the other. “Let’s just say,” she began slowly, trying to find a way to explain her situation without giving too much away, “my life got more complicated over the weekend.”

His eyebrows rose in shock. “More? Kara, how much _more_ complicated can your life possible get?”

She shifted her weight back and forth as she searched for a reply that wouldn’t be a lie but wouldn’t make him ask more questions. Her panicking brain couldn’t come up with anything but the absolute truth, and she trusted and respected James enough to simply tell him. “Cat and I are sort of dating.”

James opened his mouth to reply, shut it, crossed his arms, and then narrowed his eyes for a moment in thought. “Ah,” he finally replied in a noncommittal tone.

“Ah?” She shook her head and stared at him. “Ah?! What does that _even_ mean?”

“It means that I totally saw that coming.” He smirked. “Hey, _I_ gave _you_ those pictures and pushed you in that direction, in case you forgot. I mean, it took you two long enough.”

She rolled her eyes. “Okay, but pictures can…”

“Lie. Yes, I know. At least, that’s what you kept telling me anyway.” Olsen shook his head in amusement.

She huffed at him, pushing her glasses up with the hand holding the latté. “You know this is all going to be a mess, right?” She watched him nod, though she could tell he was more humoring her than agreeing with her. “And you know that Ms. Grant will eventually have to tell the Board that she’s seeing her assistant in a romantic way, right?” He nodded again. “And you know that means I’ll have to stop working for her, which means I won’t be her assistant anymore, which means…”

“You’ll be forced to separate your work life and personal life a little bit, which might _not_ be a bad thing.” With a shrug, he reached down to begin reorganizing the mess her entrance had caused. “Does she _know_?”

Kara uncomfortably nodded. “Yeah, she knows.”

He didn’t seem surprised. “How’d your sister take _that_ news?”

“Sort of okay, but I think it’s because she’s the one that figure it out.” Shaking her head quickly, she cut off his questions with a look. “She’s coming. I have to go.” With a flurry that was _almost_ too fast to be human, Kara was out the door and down the hall before he could even say good look.

* * *

 

The latté was cold, and Kara was panicked.

She hastily glanced around the office as she made a quick turn to pop the lid of the cup and raise her glasses enough to shoot a quick beam to warm the drink up. She finished just in time for the elevator doors to slide open and reveal Cat Grant pulling her sunglasses off and throwing them in the top of her purse.

Cool as ever, Cat strolled through the floor, her hand extended with complete confidence that her latté would find its way there. She sashayed into her office, dropped her bag in her desk drawer, and took a sip of her drink. “It’s hot,” she dryly commented as she took her seat. “That’s becoming a habit, Kiera.”

“Uh,” Kara toyed with the corner of her daily planner, clearly confused. “That’s a good thing, right?”

“General a hot latté being hot upon delivery _is_ a good thing, yes.” Her boss gave her a withering look from behind the rim of the drink. Rolling her eyes, she shook her head and looked expectantly down at her desk before looking back up with barely contained irritation. “The proofs?”

“Oh!” The younger woman nearly jumped out of her shoes. “Here! They’re here,” she declared a little too loudly. Clearing her throat, she tried to calm her voice back down. “Here you go, Ms. Grant,” she muttered as she handed the proofs over.

Cat carefully looked them over. Her eyes moved slowly from one photo to the next, stopping occasionally as she considered one thing or another. “You know,” she began thoughtfully and loud enough only they could hear her, “you’re cute when you’re frazzled.” She cut her eyes away from her work, narrowing them amusedly while she watched the reaction she knew was going to come.

Kara could feel the blush instantly explode up her neck to the tips of her hears. “I, uh,” she glanced down at the planner in her hands, “I thought that was my line.”

“Tit for tat,” Cat teasingly replied while she laid the proofs down to mark on them. “These proofs could use some more work.” She aggressively crossed out a photo. “It’s like he’s not even trying to impress me these days.”

“I’ll let him know that…” Kara trailed off. She’d picked something up, and her hearing was focused in on it. Something was very wrong in the city.

“Kiera?” Cat glanced up again and tilted her head in concern. _“Kiera?”_

“I’m… I’m sorry, Ms. Grant.” The younger woman was already looking for an excuse that would allow her to leave. “It’s just that…”

Her boss held up a hand. “Go.”

“What?” Kara’s body physically shook with the force of the full stop the command brought upon her.

“Go.” Cat leaned back in her chair and considered the other woman as if trying to remember exactly what she looked like in that moment. “Whatever it is, go take care of it.” Her facial expression was a mixture of pride and concern. “And…” She hesitated. Whatever she was going to say she swallowed down. Instead, she stood to walk to her dry bar. “…and,” she began again as she poured two fingers’ worth of whiskey into her favored tumbler, “contact me when it’s over.”

Kara nodded, resisting the urge to reach out and touch Cat. “I will,” she whispered before heading to the stairwell to make a fast escape.

A moment later, Supergirl flew toward the danger, and Cat watched her go from her balcony. She took a long drink and closed her eyes against the anxiety battering at her walls of calm control. This was going to be much harder than she’d originally predicted.

* * *

 

“These proofs need work.” Cat closed the door behind her as she walked into Olsen’s office to toss the pages onto his desk. “I thought I was hiring a top notch photo editor, not a teenager who plays with Photoshop during class.”

James looked up from his desk and slowly removed his hands from under the proofs, pulling the papers he had been looking over along as well. Taking a in a deep breath, he set his current project aside to pick up the proofs. “I see you’re not a fan of Gucci’s fall line.”

“My teenaged son could do a better job. This,” she waved flippantly toward the photos, “is disgraceful. I don’t want it as a lead story, and I certainly don’t want it as the cover.”

He nodded and made a few notes in the margin of the pages. “What would you like to see as the cover for the Trib?” He casually glanced at the television monitor hanging on the wall beside his desk. “I see Supergirl is fighting the monster of the week. Want to send someone out to grab some photos and a story on that?”

Cat visibly stiffened but turned to face the news report. “What’s she fighting now?” Her voice was harsh, but her body language screamed worry.

“It looks like an alien who can easily contort.” James stood to walk to her side. He crossed his arms and watched the news with her for a moment. “It’s like he’s made of rubber isn’t it?”

“She could punch him for weeks, and it wouldn’t do any good. He’s absorbing everything she throws at him,” Cat replied, but it was apparent she was talking to herself. “She’s going to have to fight smarter.”

James nodded. “Ice breath.”

“Maybe,” she conceded quietly. “But, knowing her, it’ll be her very last option. I’m sure she’s afraid she might kill him if she freezes him.” Cat slowly shook her head from side-to-side. “I know we need a hero, but we need a _living_ hero, not the memory of one.” She swallowed hard and wiped at her chin, her eyes glued to the news.

“It’s part of her charm,” he offered with a shrug he knew she couldn’t see. “The big guy is a Boy Scout, and she’s…”

“Not him,” Cat interrupted, throwing a cutting look his way. “She’s her own person, despite the parallels.” She turned back to the television, anger making her jaw twitch. “She doesn’t have to be the Girl Scout to his Boy Scout. She just has to be herself.”

“And she _is_ ,” James assured with the cool ease that had endeared him to everyone but the woman standing next to him. “She can’t help it if her natural inclination is to protect _all_ life.”

Cat wrapped her arms around herself as her eyes followed Supergirl across the screen. “At the expense of possibly being hurt herself… or worse.”

Walking in front of her, James reached up to manually switch the monitor off before turning back to face Cat. “She’ll be fine.” He gave her a small, supportive smile despite the angry stare directed at him.

He nodded toward his closed office door. “Out there, when you’re doing everyday things, it’s easy to forget just how resilient she is, that they _both_ are. Trust me when I say I get it. There at the start, when I worked at the Planet, every time I saw him fly off to save the day, I felt like everything stopped until he came back. It took me a long time to get used to it, and I sometimes _still_ have a hard time with it. I mean, he’s my _best friend_ , and the world stopped for me. It still does occasionally.” He shook his head in sympathy. “I can’t imagine what it must feel like to be his partner.”

He made his way back to his desk and took a seat. “ _Her_ partner is probably in knots right now. That fight looks bad, but,” he picked up the proofs and eyed them to keep from making eye contact with Cat, “I have faith she’ll come through.”

“Of course she will,” Cat said with a hint of uncertainty in her voice. “She’s Supergirl, and she’s my protégé. She can’t lose.”

James smiled at the narcissistic response. Only Cat could find solace with Cat. He dropped the photos enough to look at his boss. “Because Cat Grant and those affiliated with CatCo aren’t losers?”

Cat began to straighten. “Exactly. It would be horrible to the image of the company and our stock prices if we lost.” She dropped her arms to her sides and adjusted her posture to pull herself to her full height. “Besides, she knows I’d never forgive her if she _didn’t_ come back. After all, the Trib needs her on the front page at least three times a month to keeps sales revenue up.” She took in a deep breath and let it out with a definitive air. “I want _you_ to go out there and get some good shots for the front page. Drag one of the reports with you. Sally. Take her, and I want you to text me regular updates.” She pursed her lips in thought. “I don’t want to be the last know about _anything_ that happens to Supergirl. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Ms. Grant. I’ll shoot you texts as I can.” He was already moving to grab his camera.

She looked down at his desk with forced disgust. “And have one of your junior editors do something with that Gucci spread while you’re out. See if one of _them_ can fix this mess.”

James nodded, already heading for his door. “Right away.” He stopped before stepping out, making sure to catch her eye. “I’ll keep you updated,” he said quietly, and the reassurance in his voice made Cat internally relax.

“See that you do, now go,” she commanded with a wave of her hand. She waited a moment before heading back to her office to try to get some work done. She still had a schedule to keep, and Ellen hated to be kept waiting for too long.

* * *

 

“Is Kara coming over again tonight?” Carter slipped into the backseat of the sedan and settled with his backpack between his legs on the floorboard.

“No, not tonight.” Cat waved for the driver to go and tried not to sound as worried as she felt. It’d been over eight hours since she’d watched Kara head off into God only knows what kind of hazards, and the last text from James read, “She’s fine, I think, but this fight is getting ugly. This might take a lot longer than usual.” That had been three hours ago.

Of course, she’d been keeping an eye on the reports as she tried to work. Supergirl had eventually frozen the rubbery alien, but she’d been surprise attacked by some kind of stone looking creature. To reduce collateral damage, Cat assumed, Supergirl had literally punched the rock being completely out of the city, and no one seemed to be able to figure out where they’d landed.

It’s been two hours since the last report of Supergirl’s whereabouts.

“Mom?” Cat shook herself. Her son sounded like he’d been trying to get her attention for a few minutes. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine, sweetheart. I just have a lot on my mind right now.” She gave him the best apologetic smile she could manage. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.” Turning as much as she could in the car’s seat, she faced him. “Ask me again?”

“I said I wonder if Kara would come over anyway. I like having her there, don’t you?”

She nodded, but it wasn’t the firm affirmation he was looking for. “Carter,” she began carefully. They needed to have this talk, but she wasn’t sure she was emotionally there for it. It didn’t matter, really. Her son _needed_ to hear this right now before they all got in too deep. “I know you like Kara, and I’m so happy that you do because I like her, too.” She reached out to touch his shoulder. “I like her _a lot_ , actually, but our relationship is still… growing. It’s still new.”

“So,” he shrank back a little into his seat enough that his mother withdrew her hand, “are you saying you’re _not_ dating her now?”

“No.” She frowned in thought. This needed to go smoothly. “No,” she repeated, “I’m saying that we’re not _not_ dating, but we’re also not quite dating yet. We’re… somewhere in between.”

His frown matched hers. “That sounds complicated.”

“It is,” she agreed with a nod, mentally noting that he’d been saying that a lot recently and had been given the same response just as often. She wasn’t sure if she liked that. “You’ll learn as you get older that most relationships are a great deal more complex than what television and movies would have you believe, but I want you to know that none of this means that Kara doesn’t like you anymore or that I have suddenly stopped liking _her_.”

“Okay,” he nodded slowly, clearly processing. “So you’re not girlfriends, then?”

“Well, even if we _were_ dating in the sense that you mean, I really don’t like the term girlfriend.” She rolled her eyes. “It makes it sound like we’re teenagers. Partners, maybe. I could go with that.” She waved the thought off. “What we _are_ is starting out, and I need you to understand what that means for you and me. It means she’ll be there more often as Kara and not as my assistant, and it means that, hopefully, she’ll start to become more a part of our lives and us more a part of hers. However, that doesn’t mean she’s moving in tomorrow or even next month, okay? Relationships take time to build, and neither one of us is going to rush into anything.”

“You’re telling me to not ask if Kara is coming over every night, huh?” Despite the concern on his face, his eyes twinkled with mischief.

She gave him a warm natured push to the knee. “It would help me out if you wouldn’t,” she admitted with a small smirk playing at the corners of her mouth. “Starting a new relationship is hard enough without my teenaged son trying to rent the U-Haul _for_ us.”

“I know that’s a joke,” he said with confusion, “but I don’t understand the reference.”

Cat looked away, focusing on the passing buildings as a blush blossomed across her face. “Never mind,” she said with a croak to her voice. “It… doesn’t matter.” Clearing her throat, she pulled out her phone to check for messages.

There were two.

One was from James, but she didn’t bother with it because the second was from Kara. It read simply, “I’m okay.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who has left comments. I feel like your comments have been some of the most thoughtful and insightful I have ever received on a story, and I really cannot thank you enough for leaving them. They really do make my day.


	6. Determination

Cat tried to focus on Cater, but the text from Kara hung in her mind. Kara was fine, but was she safe? The text wasn’t enough. Cat needed to know more.

She sighed heavily and flipped her phone on to quickly type out a reply. “Where are you?”

There was no immediate response, and her stomach dropped just a little. That couldn’t be a good sign. Kara had _just_ texted her. Before she could dwell more on it, their car stopped in front of their building, and she ushered her son up to their home.

Cat went through the motions of making sure Carter was well cared for. She tried to listen to his day as they went about putting away their things. She tried to concentrate on what he told her about his school work as she made dinner, and she honestly attempted a conversation at the dinner table, but nothing seemed to really gel.

“Mom?” Carter sighed and stared at her with his head tilted in concern. “Are you okay? You’ve been distracted all night.”

“No.” She stared down at her phone as she took a sip of wine. “Kara is… sick, and I’m concerned. She left earlier today from work, and I didn’t hear from her again until we were coming home.”

“That was your text?” He looked worried, and Cat mentally kicked herself. She shouldn’t worry him like this. “Should we do something?”

“I don’t think there’s anything we can, sweetheart.” She hated how true that statement was. She loathed feeling powerless in a situation. “Don’t worry too much. She’ll be fine.” She hoped.

He seemed to think on it for a long moment before a big yawn escaped his mouth. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

“I think it’s time for you to go to bed. You can do your homework tomorrow morning.” She was too distracted to really comfort him, so the fact he was practically falling asleep at the table was a Godsend. “If something changes with Kara, I’ll let you know, okay?”

He stood and stretched. “Okay,” he reluctantly agreed as he grabbed their dishes to take to the dishwasher.

Cat remained seated at the table with her glass of wine and anxious thoughts. She stared out the windows of her penthouse and tried to will her phone to buzz.

It complied ten minutes later.

“I’m some place secure.” The text wasn’t very reassuring. She’d asked Kara _where_ she was, not what kind of place it was.

She huffed in frustration. She wanted answers. “Are you hurt?”

The delay was a few minutes, and the answer made her stomach churn. “A little, but I’ll be okay in a day or two…maybe three?”

Cat’s hand gripped the wine glass harder. “You don’t get hurt.”

This time, the answer was instant. “I can get hurt, but it takes a lot. I’m okay, Cat. I promise. I just have to rest.” Before she could reply, another text came in. “Oh, and… ummmmm…. I need a few days’ of sick leave, Ms. Grant. :-) “

She snorted. Sick leave was the least of her concerns right now. “I want to see you.”

“You can’t.” Even in text, she could hear the apology in Kara’s tone. “You’re not cleared to be in here.”

Taking a long sip of wine, Cat thought over what that meant about where the other woman likely was. “Are you alone?”

“No, there are lots of people here.”

She rolled her eyes. That’s not wat she meant. She needed to know that Kara wasn’t in some government facility somewhere being hooked up to God only knows what by complete strangers who didn’t have her best interests at heart. “Is there anyone there you know?”

“Alex.”

Some of the tension in her body to dissipated. If Kara’s sister was there, then at least one person who was trustworthy was around to make sure nothing happened to her. “I want her number.”

“I’ll have to ask first.”

The older woman grunted in irritation. Was it too much to ask that she be included in what was happening with Kara’s wellbeing? Well, perhaps. They weren’t fully dating yet, but, still, she should know. She had a vested interest in the younger woman on many different levels.

Sensing it was pointless to continue asking questions about Kara’s whereabouts, she decided to change topics. It was getting late, but she wasn’t ready to cut her connection to the other woman just yet. “I spoke to Carter about our situation today. He seemed to take it well.”

She could hear Kara’s concern. “What did you tell him?”

“That we aren’t dating officially yet, but you and I were going to start spending more time together, which means he’ll be spending more time with you.”

“That’s reasonable.”

She nodded. Of course that was reasonable. She didn’t do unreasonable. Demanding, yes, but unreasonable? No, of course not. “I also told him to stop trying to run you off by renting the U-Haul truck _for_ us.”

“LOL! Yeah, it’s a little too soon for that just yet.”

Cat smiled. For some reason, that last text made her feel warm inside. “At least we know who to talk to if we need to make an appointment.”

“Making your appointments is my job. Carter will have to find something else to do. Maybe he can be the coordinator?”

“Only if it’s videogame coordinator.” Cat chuckled. “You’ll have to play Mario Cart with us soon.”

“I try not to play videogames. I tend to break the controllers.”

Cat frowned at the inherent sadness of that comment. There was just so much Kara couldn’t do. She always had to be so careful, and Cat realized how much she took that fact for grant it. It wasn’t fair, really. Kara could save a thousand lives in a day, but she was terrified of breaking a fifty dollar controller. “I’ll buy stock in game controller manufacturers. Break as many as you like.”

“You’ll get even richer.”

Her frown deepened. She knew the younger woman was teasing her, but the comment hit a nerve. She honestly didn’t care about the money. She cared about Kara feeling comfortable around her and Carter, of being comfortable in the penthouse. “Unavoidable side effect of you being here and making us smile because we’re beating your ass so badly.”

“Har har. ….it’s getting late, Cat. You should go to bed. Things will be a lot harder for you since I’m out for at least the next few days.”

“I’d argue the point, but I’d hate to make you feel silly over text.” She knew Kara was correct. Tomorrow and probably the rest of the week was going to be challenging. “Good night, Keira.”

She smiled at the reply. It settled her nerves to know some things were still normal, still fine. “Goodnight, Ms. Grant.”

* * *

 

Cat was on day two without her assistant, and the entire office was feeling it. She could see her employees attempting to shrink into their desks when she rounded corners, and one poor young editor nearly jumped into a trashcan when he turned around to find her standing behind him waiting to use the copier.

She would have laughed at the situation if she wasn’t so wound up about Kara. The text message conversation on Monday night was the last time they’d spoken, and her anxiety about what was really going on with the other woman was starting to come to a breaking point.

“Whit!” Her bellowing voice filled her office and boomed out into the employee work area beyond. She mentally counted the seconds until Winn nervously stumbled into her office. “Did you find Kiera’s day planner yet?”

“Uh, well, not exactly.” His nerves made him do what looked very much like the potty dance in front of her desk. “I think it’s in her desk drawer, but it’s locked.”

She gave him an exasperated look and reached into her own drawer to pull out a set of keys. “Then unlock it, and get me that day planner.” She tossed them at his chest and waved him off.

Winn barely caught them before they bounced into his face. “Do… uh… do you know which key it is?”

“No. That’s what you’re here to figure out.” She pushed her glasses back onto the bridge of her nose and turned back to her computer. “Go.”

“Right.” He stumbled backwards a few steps. “Going.” Spinning on his heels, he bolted for Kara’s desk.

As soon as Cat had begun yelling for someone to find ‘Kiera’s’ day planner this morning, Winn had shot a few panic ridden texts to both Kara _and_ Alex. Alex was the one to respond. It was a short, simple text that he thought was going to save his life. “Desk. Top drawer.”

Of course, the desk was locked. He should have seen that inconvenience coming. It was both a blessing and a curse when his follow up texting asking _how_ to get into the drawer was a reply from Alex stating, “Cat has the spare. Good luck. ;-)”

Dealing with a perturbed Cat Grant was quite possibly one of the most nerve wracking experiences of his young adult life, and, if it weren’t for the fact that Kara had risked her life to save everyone, he’d be pissed she’d put him in the awkward and impossible situation of being Cat’s stand-in assistant.

Dropping into her chair, he started testing keys.

“So, you’re the new Kara?” James’ amused chuckle made everything worse.

Winn glowered up at him. “I’m the one closest to Cat’s door when Kara’s not here, so, until she gets back, it looks like I’m the replacement assistant, yeah.”

“Lucky you.” Olsen leaned a little to the side and glanced through the glass doors into the CEO’s office. “How’s she doing?”

“How’s she doing?” Winn snorted and went back to searching for the right key. “Cranky is how. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this tightly wound, and I was here when Lois Lane came for a visit a couple of years ago.” He cringed at the memory. “I never thought I’d see her more keyed up than then.”

“Well, she’s got a lot going on, and she has no idea what any of it is.” James grinned. “Any luck with that key?”

Winn groaned. “No, and I _really_ want to get this thing and hand it over so I can make a run for it. I think someone in the basement needs my help with something.”

Olsen quietly laughed. “You know she’s keyed up about Kara, right?”

“Obviously.” The tech guy let out a little victory yelp as the key he’d tested turned smoothly in the lock. “I’m pretty sure Cat can’t do anything without Kara. I mean, Kara practically runs Cat’s life, and now she’s ‘out sick,’ so I’m guessing Cat is going crazy not having Kara around to yell at.”

James nodded his head in an indecisive fashion. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s some of it.” Reaching down, he plucked the planner out of Winn’s hand. “I’ll take it to her. You make a break for it.”

Winn slowly blinked in relief. “You sure?”

“Yeah, I can handle Cat. Just lock the desk and give me the keys before you bolt.” The photographer almost missed the bundle of brass thrown his direction as the other man made a run for the elevators.

Swallowing down another laugh, he turned toward Cat’s office and entered without knocking. “I think you were looking for this?”

Cat scowled at him from behind her monitor. “I thought Whit said it was in Keira’s desk?”

“It was. We figured out which key unlocked it and got it out for you.” He held the keys up for her to see. “Winn had an IT emergency in the basement, so I told him I’d bring you the planner.”

She held her hand out and gave a small glance of thanks his direction when the book was dropped into it. Slowly, she opened the pages and flipped through it. Kara’s essence was plainly embedded into the pages of her neat and precise handwriting. Unsurprisingly, the planner was color coordinated and perfectly arranged. It was bright and happy looking with notes scribbled in the margins about things like Carter’s school project due dates and Cat’s favorite lunches for particular days.

It was so very Kara, and Cat found she felt a little better just holding something as simple as Kara’s planner in her hands.

James cleared his throat, breaking her concentration and causing her to glare at him. “You’re still here.” It wasn’t a question. She had no reason for him to still be standing there.

“I’m guessing you want the keys back, too?” He held them out to her, and she took them, dropping them unceremoniously back into her desk drawer. “Also, I wanted to know if you’d like an update on Supergirl.”

He had her full attention. “Well?” She wanted to know _anything_ and _everything_ that pertained to Supergirl, especially right now. “Out with it.”

“She’s fine. She had a little power burn out from fighting with the rock monster, but it’s nothing a little solar recharging can’t fix. Apparently shoving a rock creature into a volcano and fighting it into a lava pit is power draining. Who knew?” He waved away the rhetorical question with a quick flick of his hand. “Nothing’s broken, and she’s only a little bruised.” He gave an unconcerned shrug. “That’ll heal pretty quickly once she’s at 100 percent.”

“I see.” Cat leaned back in her chair and placed her hands, fingers still clutched around the planner, into her lap. “Any word on how much longer before she’s fully recovered?”

He gave a reluctant shake of his head. “It’s hard to judge, you know? There are a lot of variables, but I would imagine she’ll be her regular self soon.”

She nodded slowly as her mind whipped around with this new bit of information. “How did you find all of this out?”

“You know, sometimes they contact me when they don’t contact other people.” James frowned. “I think this time I was just the easiest person to reach out to because I’m already vetted, if that makes sense?”

“Marginally.” She tapped a finger against her chin and stared at him for a long moment. “Tell me the moment you hear anything.”

“Of course, Ms. Grant.” He moved to leave but stopped just short of turning around. “Can I do anything for you while Kara is out?”

Cat’s mouth fell into a tight line for a split second before she pulled her CEO façade into place. “Yes, bring me my coffee,” she commanded as she turned back to her computer. Carefully placing the planner beside her keyboard, she went to work, and James headed out for coffee.

She waited until he was out of sight before she stood and walked onto her balcony to stare across the city and into the horizon. Where _was_ Kara?

She took in a deep breath and made a decision. By the end of the day, she was going to know where Kara was, whether by force or by bribe. This day wasn’t ending until she’d seen Kara with her own two eyes.

The first place to look was with her sister. Stepping into her office, she called to HR for Kara’s personnel record. There was more than one way to get Alex’s number.


	7. Demanding

“Why can’t I go home yet?” Kara paced around the room she’d been occupying at the DEO for the past two and a half days. Monday night was understandable. She was still resting in the sunbed trying to recover. Tuesday she could had rationalized remaining because it made sense they’d want to make sure she was fully recovered, but it was now the tail end of Wednesday, and there was no reason to keep her. “I feel fine.”

Alex crossed her arms and blocked the only exit. “The last time you blew out your powers, we didn’t get to fully check on you before you were back in the field. I’ve never been happy with that. What if you hadn’t been at 100 percent?”

“Okay, yeah,” the blonde begrudgingly nodded, “I get what you’re saying, but it’s been _days_. I feel normal. All the tests are coming back fine, _and_ you took my phone away, Alex.” She growled under her breath. “I can’t _believe_ you did that.”

“It was for your own good. You needed to rest, not play on your phone,” her sister adamantly protested.

Kara rolled her eyes. “You just didn’t want me talking to Cat, which makes _no_ sense at all because _you_ were the one telling me to go for it less than a week ago. I mean, do you even remember teasing me about ‘getting lucky,’ or did I dream that whole thing up?” She threw her hands up in a frustrated gesture. “What changed?”

The brunette looked up as she swallowed down a lump in her throat. “Nothing.” She seemed to mentally leave the room for a split second, and her eyes dimmed from the irritation of trying to be rational with her angry sister to something that was clearly haunting her. “Nothing changed. I just don’t want you to… look, Kara, you were _really_ hurt when we brought you in Monday afternoon after that last fight. You were badly burned in several places, a few bones were broken, there were deep gashes across a lot of your body, and, if you’d been human…” She closed her eyes against that thought. “You don’t remember it because you were in shock when we got to you, and we _heavily_ medicated you while you were in transport, but you… you could have died.”

The younger woman stopped pacing and fell against the side of the bed in the small room. “But, when I woke up,” she said in a weakened, small voice, “I was just a little sore with a lot of bruises.”

Alex wiped at her face, trying to keep her composure in check. “Yes, but that’s because J’onn and I have been working with S.T.A.R. labs to create a solar bed that supercharges Kryptonians, a hyper-chamber.” She chewed on her bottom lip as she took a moment to keep from breaking down. “When you woke up and I caught you texting Cat, it had only been half an hour since we’d taken you out of the hyper-chamber and placed you in the regular solar bed. I took your phone away because I really thought you needed to rest more than you needed to comfort her, and I just,” she shook her head. She’d been selfish, and she knew it, but her kneejerk reaction was to protect her younger sister. “You scared me, Kara.”

“I… I didn’t know.” The blonde wrapped her arms around herself to hold off the chill that had begun to run up her spine. “But, Alex, you can’t keep me here forever. You know I’m only staying because you want me to, not because you can actually keep me here. There’s a whole bunch of people out there that need my help, and sometimes that means I’m going to be in danger.” She blanched a little as her mind flashed to what she’d just learned about the past few days, but her eyes hardened in determination. “That’s part of the life I’ve chosen, and I can’t change that now. I don’t _want_ to.”

“I know.” Her older sister’s eye fell to the ground between them. “It’s just hard, Kara. I’m always going to want to protect you.”

“I’m sorry, Alex. I’m sorry I scared you, I’m sorry I’ve been a brat the last couple of days, and I’m really sorry that I put you through all of that, but,” the blonde sighed. But what? Everything these days seemed to be so complicated. “I need to leave here. It’s time for me to go back. People need me out there just as much as you do, probably even more.”

“God,” Alex wiped at her eyes and sniffled a few times, “are you sure Cat is ready to handle all of this?”

Kara gave her sister a helpless look. “I honestly don’t know. I _do_ know she demanded I give her your number when I told her you were with me. Don’t worry,” she held up a hand in defense, “I told her I’d have to ask first. Cat… she likes to be in control of things, and it drives her nuts when she’s not, so not being able to directly contact me for two full days is probably eating her alive.” She smirked at the mental picture of an annoyed yet determined Cat Grant. “If you don’t let me go soon, she might just show up at the front doors of this place. That’s how she handles things. She takes action.”

“She takes over,” the brunette countered with a groan. “You know, she _can’t_ come in here, right? Can you imagine the national security breaches _that_ would cause? If General Lane found out she ever stepped one foot in here, he’d have _all_ of our heads on a platter.”

“Which is why,” Kara replied in her best persuasive voice, “ _you_ should give me the all clear to leave because I’m telling you that Cat will only stay on the sidelines so long.”

Alex dropped her hands to her side, and her shoulders sagged a little. “You just _had_ to fall for a reporter, didn’t you? You couldn’t have gone for an accountant or a librarian or something?”

The younger woman relaxed, propping on her elbows as she leaned backwards on the bed. “You know I’ve always liked a challenged, and, I mean, Cat is _really_ hot.”

“Please stop.” Alex covered her eyes with one hand and held the other up. “I do _not_ need nor want to hear about your sex life any more than I already have.” She dropped her hands. “Speaking of, any luck on the Kryptonite?”

“No.” Kara frowned, pushing to sit up straighter on the edge of the bed. “I was going to call my cousin to see if he might have a lead, but then Dr. Stretchy-Pants and Mr. McRockface decided to show up.”

Her sister chuckled. “Clever.” Stepping aside, she gestured for the other woman to leave the room. “To be honest, the commotion has cut into my calculation time.” She followed the blonde out, not bothering to ask where they were headed. “I’ll refocus on that tomorrow. I think I need to take the rest of the day off today.”

“Thank you.” Kara stopped at the exit to give her sister a hug. “I’ll call you later?”

“Yeah,” Alex gave her a guilty look as she reached into a pocket on her pants to pull out the other woman’s cell. “You’ll probably need this.”

The blonde took it and slipped it into place at the back of her suit. “Okay, _now_ I’ll call you later.”

“Just… just be careful, okay? And maybe take tomorrow off? I know you feel okay, but…” Alex shifted uncomfortably and glanced away. “Just be careful.”

Kara nodded. “As much as I’m able, I will.” With a final goodbye, she slipped out of the exit and into the evening sky.

* * *

 

“Danvers.”

“Where is she?”

Alex pulled her cell away from her ear and looked with confusion at the phone number again. “Who is this?”

“Cat Grant.”

Ah. That made sense. Her sister _had_ warned her. “She’s not here.”

“What do you _mean_ she’s not there? That’s unacceptable. You’re going to tell me where she is, or I’m going to find you and force it out of you.”

With a groan, Alex pushed away from her desk and longingly looked at the last bit of work she needed to complete so she could go home. “Look, Ms. Grant, there’s no need to threaten me. I’m not trying to be difficult. She’s really _not_ here. She left about thirty minutes ago, and, before you ask, I’m not sure where she went. Though, if I were to take a guess, I’d say she’s going wherever she thinks _you_ probably are.”

There was a long pause, and Alex pulled the phone away again to check the connection. “So,” Cat’s voice was less assured, “she’s okay?”

“Yeah, she’s okay _now_.” She debated telling the older woman more. Her sister’s health was literally classified as top secret, but, then again, she had a feeling this woman would push for information, and, just this once, she was inclined to freely give it. It was sort of a relief to have someone else worrying about her sister’s wellbeing as much as she did. “When we got her, she wasn’t okay at all, and that’s why we kept her.”

“She sent me a text Monday night.”

“Yes, and she should’ve been resting instead. We… _I_ ,” she didn’t want to take ownership of this mess, but she felt she owed her sister for keeping her away from Cat longer than she really had to, “took her cell away when I found out she wasn’t resting. She needed to heal.”

“How bad was it?”

“Bad enough that I don’t want to relive it right now.” Alex wiped at her eyes. “She’s okay, and she’s headed home, or, at least, she’s headed to you. If she’s not already with you, she probably will be soon.”

“I don’t appreciated being blocked out, Ms. Danvers.”

“I realize, and,” she tilted her head in recognition of her current situation, “I _was_ warned. She said I might find you at my doorstep if you didn’t hear from her soon.

“She’s not wrong.” Alex could hear the older woman take in few deep breaths, and she wondered if the great Cat Grant’s nerves had been rattled. “Do I need to do anything? Is there some kind of special care she’s going to need when… _if_ she comes to see me?”

“She’s back to being bulletproof, so the usual precautions apply, but,” she leaned back in her desk chair and ran her free hand through her hair to push it back from her face, “the best advice I can give you is to keep treating her how you always have.”

“Which is?”

She allowed a small, sad smile to grace her lips. Cat had managed to do something that she had never really been able to do, and she both hated and admired the other woman for that. “Treat her like a normal person.”

Alex could hear Cat release a long, slow breath. “She’s anything but. However, that’s not because of her superpowers.”

She hummed in agreement. All her sister really needed right now was to be treated like a person, outside of the whole magical Kryptonite… _what_? What _were_ they going to call this thing they were trying to make? Because there was _no way_ she was giving it a sexually implied name.

That was a consideration for another time. “You’re right.” She sighed. “Just be you. That’s all she needs right now.” She sat forward in her chair and started to scoot closer to her desk. “Look, Ms. Grant, I need to go. I have work to do, and I’m sure you have to see to something. I know you’re a busy woman. If you need me, call me or shoot me a text. I’ll save this number so I know who I’m talking to next time.”

Alex could hear the satisfied grunt and could practically see Cat’s look of controlled approval. “Good.”

Before she could respond, the line disconnected, and she was left with mental pictures she didn’t want and a feeling of guilt for not being able to do more about _everything_ that had recently happened.

With a heavy sigh, she settled back at her desk and grabbed the file with the calculations she was running for her sister’s personal predicament. She may not want the mental pictures, but she’d made a promise, and she was going to keep it.


	8. Together

Cat carefully set her phone down and stepped away from her desk. Kara was fine, and she was coming home. The quickly dissipating tension made her feel weak from relief at knowing for certain the younger woman was honestly well.

Glancing into the bullpen, she noted the lights were off, and the people had left. It was well past time she should have gone home herself. Carter was probably already in bed, and the sitter was likely eating her out of house and home, but she just couldn’t motivate herself to leave the office just yet.

What if Kara came here? What if Cat was in a car going from point A to point B while the other woman was flying around the city looking for her? What if she missed her chance to see Kara tonight?

Mentally admonishing herself for acting like a lovesick teenager, she stood to pour a drink and step onto the balcony. The air was much colder than she expected, which only added to the shivers she already felt from the adrenaline of the last few days leaving her system. She allowed her eyes to follow the darkening shapes of the city while she slowly sipped from her glass.

At dusk, everything has the appearance of winding down. The traffic grows lighter, street lights begin to come on, and the city starts to grow quieter. It’s misleading, of course. National City never really sleeps, and the blanket of darkness that covers it as the sun slips below the horizon is just a shield that Cat learned many years ago to sidestep.

She was never one to abide by a buffer subverting the truth of a situation.

As she finished her drink, she tuned to step back inside but was stopped short by the reflection in her glass doors. “Where have you been?”

Kara float over the railing to touch down a few inches behind her. “Recovering.”

Cat turned to face the younger woman, empty glass in one hand and the other reaching to rest upon the giant emblem emblazoned on Kara’s chest. “I was starting to get concerned.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t like to worry you like that.” The younger woman inched closer. “I’ve missed you.”

Cat leaned forward, allowing Kara to wrap her arms around her. She settled with her head nestled under the taller woman’s chin, and she permitted herself to take a moment to just be with the other woman, to take in the feel and smell of Kara and know that she really was okay. “I’ve missed you, too.” She chuckled. “And, if I were to take a guess, so has Winn. He’s been your replacement while you’ve been out.”

Kara snorted. “I bet he’s a nervous wreck.”

“James Olsen took one for the team and stepped in. I think Winn made a break for the basement. I haven’t seen him since about nine this morning.” Pulling back, Cat ran her free hand up Kara’s neck to slide a finger slowly along the younger woman’s jawline. “Being romantically involved with a superhero is never wracking, _but_ being without my assistant for two days in a row was absolutely intolerable.”

The younger blonde laughed. “You survived just fine for years without me.”

“Yes, but I survive so much better when you’re around.” Resting her hand at the base of Kara’s neck, Cat leaned up to place a chaste yet needy kiss on the other woman’s lips. “We need to set parameters for days like the last few. I can’t live in the dark.”

“I know.” Kara leaned down for another kiss. “And I agree. We’ll figure something out. I don’t like the idea of you not knowing. I know Alex filled James in on a few things, and I can’t tell you how irritated I was when she told me she updated him but not you.” She took in a deep breath and bowed to rest her forehead against Cat’s shoulder. “He’s my friend, but… I _need_ you to be informed. I _want_ you to know what’s going on.”

The older woman wrapped her arms around the hero and pulled them tightly together. “There’s a lot we still need to figure out.”

“Yeah.” Kara pulled back a little and leaned over to look through the glass doors. “It’s way past time for you to be home. Is Carter…”

“He’s fine. The sitter is there, and he should be in bed by now.” Cat’s mouth twitched down. “But you’re right. I really should go home and get some sleep.”

The younger woman grinned. “Want a ride?”

* * *

 

It wasn’t that Cat Grant was terrified of heights. She wasn’t. It was more that she was terrified of heights in which she was only being held aloft several stories above the ground by a pair of arms and a prayer. What she’d been thinking when she said yes to the offer of a ride eluded her now, though she supposed it likely had something to do with the idea of muscular arms holding her tightly against soft curves, and the most breathtaking smiled she’d ever seen also probably had _something_ do with her agreeing, too.

Internally, she berated herself yet again for acting like a sixteen year old out on her first date. Verbally, she tried to sound calm and collected despite the fact she was slightly panicked. “There’s not as much wind as I thought there would be. Why is that? How fast are we going?”

Kara grinned and shifted her head so that her mouth was closer to the other woman’s ear. “Honesty, I’m not sure.”

Cat tightened her arms around the younger woman’s torso and gripped harder at her back. If they were standing instead of flying through the air, this position would be incredibly erotic. Their fronts pressed together so closely they could feel each other’s every curve and their breath brushing past the other’s cheek to lightly caress their skin was something straight out of a dime store Harlequin romance novel. However, none of that registered very well with Cat at that moment because her mind insisted on focusing on trying not to die via accidental drop.

She needed a distraction. “That fact that you can fly like this seems to defy physics.”

“Seems to,” Kara agreed with a little nod. “Alex studied it for a while, and I know S.T.A.R. labs has done some testing on my cousin to try to understand it.” She gently pulled into a turn and tried no to giggle at how the older woman clung to her while trying to act as if she were perfectly fine. “The best anyone’s come to understand about why we can fly is that we’re not actually flying like, say, a bird or a plane.”

Cat snorted. “If this isn’t flying, then what is it?”

“It’s the _appearance_ of flying,” the younger woman explained with a hitch of uncertainty lacing her voice. “Kal and I apparently levitate against Earth’s gravitational pull by manipulating the magnetic fields around us. We’re guessing there’s some sort of magnetic quality to our Kryptonian physiology, though we’re still trying to figure out what that is. Whatever it is, it lets us manipulate the fields to a small enough degree to allow us to move through the air without affecting anything around us.” She pulled them up to a vertical position so that they hovered over the darkened city and waited until Cat pulled back enough to look her in the eye. “The reason you’re safe flying with me is because the manipulation of the magnetic fields extends a few feet in all directions around my body. If you were to pull back to arm’s length, you would fall. I don't know why me messing around with magnetic fields works with humans I'm giving a lift to, as well, and neither does anyone else. We're also still working on that.”

Cautiously, Cat turned her head to look around them and then down. She noted how secure she felt even though she wasn’t clinging to the other woman and took a moment to realize that, though they were floating, her feet felt like they were solidly secure. Slowly, she looked up to find Kara watching her with a hint of amusement playing around her eyes and mouth. “I should hope you wouldn’t keep me at arm’s length.”

“I’m not planning on it,” the younger woman replied with a smirk. “So,” she began again in her somewhat instructional voice, “there’s enough particles in the atmosphere to allow friction to play a part in how I can move around up here. Basically, Kal and I are air hockey pucks with a mind of our own, and the Earth is a giant air hockey table, but that’s probably a little too simple of an analogy.” She scrunched her face up in thought. “Actually, that’s a terrible analogy, and I’m really bad at explaining this. Alex does a much better job. I could ask her to maybe talk to you about it?”

Cat’s hands flexed a little where they held tightly to Kara’s upper arms. “Maybe later.” She slowly looked around again to try to take in her surroundings as opposed to focusing on the height. “It’s beautiful up here and peaceful. I can see why flying relaxes you.”

“It’s my second favorite thing to do,” Kara replied with a smirk.

“Second?” The smaller woman raised an eyebrow. “If you tell me the first has something to do with me, I’m going to roll my eyes so far back in my head that I may actually see my brain.”

The younger blonde laughed. “Okay,” she said quietly before pulling Cat back in to kiss her.

They slowly spun in place as they enjoyed their bubble of privacy. Kara could feel Cat relax into her hold, and she was both grateful and relieved to have that much trust handed to her. She reluctantly pulled back, stealing small kisses here and here. “I’m going to take us to your place,” she whispered quietly. “Do you want me to stay?”

Cat chewed on her bottom lip for a moment as she thought it over and then nodded. “I don’t want you to leave again tonight.”

Kara kissed her once more, a silent promise to stay, before pulling them parallel with the ground and heading to the penthouse for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really hope this pace it's making all of you nuts. Sorry about dragging it all out, but I'm still getting a feel for these characters.


	9. Obstacles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm moving this to the 'mature' category. I'd rather not take chances.

Kara hadn’t realized it until she’d laid eyes on Cat, but she’d been full of unrest for days. Regardless of her personal situation, her mind had consistently strayed to the older woman, and she had grown increasingly frustrated at the DEO, and her sister specifically, for keeping her from Cat.

Now that she was in the same space with Cat, her mind finally stopped dwelling on what the other woman might be doing or feeling, and she felt drained. The need to see Cat, to be around her, and the fact she couldn’t get away to simply be in the same space as the other woman was far more taxing an experience than fighting an alien inside the mouth of an open volcano.

It seemed like her emotional ties to the older woman were running far ahead of where their relationship was, but she chose not to dwell. Instead, she decided to take a shower while she waited for Cat to carefully walk downstairs to wake the sitter, pay her, and check on Carter.

Pulling off her suit, she sighed at herself. How was it that Cat Grant had managed to get into her skin so quickly? She hung the suit up in the closet in the space made for it and placed her boots in the spot made for them on the floor below. Maybe the question wasn’t how had Cat managed to get to her, but how had they gotten into each other’s skin so quickly?

She shook her head and grabbed her night clothes from the drawer Cat had given her in the chest situated outside the bathroom door. As she walked by the sinks, she tossed the clothes onto the counter and paused to glance at herself in the mirror. Had it really been quickly? She shook her head at her reflection. No, it hadn’t. They’d been going around in circles for years.

Chuckling at her own obliviousness, she headed for the shower.

It was wonderful. The shower smelled of the expensive shampoos and the high end soaps she knew Cat favored, and being inside the cocoon of a steam mixed with that familiar scent made her feel peaceful. It was a perfect moment of bliss as she stepped fully into the hot water’s spray and allowed the stream to beat down over her, washing away the last few days.

She reached forward to press her hands flat against the back of the shower wall. The world was a myth. The only thing that existed were the three glass walls surrounding her and the mists of time standing still in the presences of her need to take a moment and take a breath.

The strangled gasp and little hiccup of surprise from Cat pulled Kara out of her thoughts. A little too quickly, she turned around, covering herself as best she could as she looked through the foggy glass wall to find Cat looking in her direction with a mixture of surprise, shock, and hunger. “I,” the older woman began in a strangled voice. “uh…” she opened and closed her mouth a few times before sound came out again. “Bathroom,” she squeaked out. “I… I needed to use the bathroom, and I thought,” she finally blinked, and her lids fluttered a little too rapidly, “the shower would be… foggier?”

Kara’s entire body burned with the force of her blush and the heat of the water still streaming down her back, over her shoulders, and down her chest. She pulled into herself as much as she could. “It’s okay,” she squeaked out. “I should have waited.”

“No,” Cat shook her head, but her eyes remained glued to the shower, “you shouldn’t have to. I want you to be… uh… to be _comfortable_ here.” She closed her eyes and swallowed hard, clearly trying to mentally regroup. “God, Kara, it’s like you were carved,” she whispered through a slow exhale.

“Uh,” the younger woman’s confusion made her forget about her embarrassment. “Carved?”

Cat took in another deep breath and tried to shake herself back to some sense of control. “Your body is… is… _perfect,_ like it was carved by a master's hand.” She opened her eyes again and managed to make eye contact this time. “And I’m sorry for completely invading your privacy. That was… _this is_ very wrong of me. I just can’t seem to stop myself from,” her eyes flickered down again, “staring…” she trailed off as her eyes glazed over again.

It was the hunger in the other woman’s eyes that was the spark which gave Kara the courage to turn the shower off and step out with her arms lowered. She’d had fantasies of Cat looking at her exactly like that. She wanted to see more of it. Her body tingled from the force of the older woman’s need. She could see it in her eyes and sense it in the air.

Briefly, she thanked her super senses for this moment. She wanted to know everything she was doing to Cat, and her abilities permitted that. She could see, hear, and smell her effects on the other woman. What she wanted was to feel and _taste_.

Slowly walking toward the smaller woman, Kara reached out to take Cat’s hand in her own and place it on the same spot Cat had rested it earlier that evening when they’d first seen each other.

Cat groaned, her eyes following the contours laid bare now that the suit was gone and the House of El symbol no longer blocked her view. She swallowed again while forcing her eyes up to meet the younger woman’s. “When did you get so bold?”

“You bring it out in me,” Kara replied with a smirk. “Touch me?”

Cat’s eyes fell back to her hand where it rested on Kara’s chest, and she nodded. Licking her lips, she trailed her fingertips down between the valley of the younger woman’s breasts, dragging her fingernails over the sensitive skin of one breast and toward a quickly hardening nipple.

She began to circle it when Kara’s hand flew up to stop her, pressing both their hands flat over her breast. “I… it’s too much,” she pleaded between pants. “I want… _I want,_ but my strength…”

“I know.” Cat gave a small, understanding nod and leaned forward to rest her head against Kara’s chest. “ _God_ , do I know,” she groaned as her body shook with unreleased tension.

They remained silent until Kara’s breathing evened out and her body began to relax. “I’m _so_ sorry, Cat.”

“Sorry?” The older woman pulled back, scowling for a split second before her face morphed into something more gentle but no less serious. “Kara, it’s not your fault. It’s not mine. It’s simply the situation we find ourselves in. We’re working on it, and I know we’ll find a solution, but, if we don’t,” she shrugged as she gave the still nude body before her a wistful look, “well, there’s more than one way to go about pleasing a person.” She pulled her eyes back up to Kara’s and gave her a small smile. “We’ll figure it out.”

The younger blonde nodded, sniffling away the threatening tears. “You should probably take care of that bathroom situation, and I really should wash the soap off. I think I missed a few spots.”

Cat rolled her eyes. “Do that. I can’t have soapy sheets.” She forced herself to withdraw, turning toward the toilet area and closing the door softly behind her.

Kara wiped at her eyes and headed back for the shower. What even was her life these days?

* * *

 

“Maybe I should go home?” Kara balanced on the side of the bed opposite where Cat had slipped in. “This might be too much after… well, _after_ all of _that_.” She nodded toward the bathroom.

Cat pushed up to lean against the headboard and crossed her arms. “If you feel the need to leave, I won’t stop you, but I think I’ve made it clear that I would rather you stay here with me tonight.”

“I’m not saying I don’t want to be here,” the younger woman replied with a sigh. “I’m just saying that… well, it’s just…” she groaned. “I don’t know what I’m saying. Honestly,” she continued in a defeated voice, “I feel like I don’t know _what_ I’m doing most of the time anymore.”

“What you’re doing,” Cat replied definitively, “is coming to bed. You’re going to get comfortable, and then I’m going to hold you because,” she admitted with just a hint of embarrassment, “I still need to know that you’re, one, here, and, two, still okay. Tomorrow, we’re going to get up, get Carter off to school, and you’re going to _remain_ on sick leave.” She held her hand up to stop the oncoming protest. “ _I_ am going to take the day off,” she raised her eyebrows in challenge to the clear shock on the other woman’s face, “and _we’re_ going to spend it resting and making phone calls.”

Kara tried to shake her stunned feeling. “Phone calls?”

“You said you still needed to call your cousin about the Kryptonite, so you’re going to do just that, and, if he has a lead, you and I are going to follow it. If he doesn’t, we’ll find one of our own. You’re an extremely resourceful assistant,” the older woman declared as she reached over to pull the covers down and motion for the younger woman to slide into bed, “and I’m one of the best investigative reporters in the world.” She smirked at the eye roll that declarative statement received. “Between the two of us, there’s nothing we can’t do.”

Kara obliged and shifted down into the softness of the bed. She rolled onto her side facing Cat and scooted over until she was wrapped around the other woman’s side. “The office is going to think you’ve been kidnapped. Besides, if memory serves, you have a meeting tomorrow you shouldn't miss, and I'd really rather be at work. I need some normality after the past few days. I can contact my cousin during my breaks.”

“I doubt Winn would be worried,” Cat replied with a chuckle. “He’ll just be thankful I can’t order him around like I do with you.”

“You know, he’s really not a bad person,” Kara lightly chastised, “and he _is_ my best friend.”

“He’s also _my_ competition,” the older woman declared with a small huff. “You know he’s had a crush on you since the moment you walked through my doors, don’t you?”

“Yes, I’m aware.” Wrapping her free arm around the smaller woman, Kara sighed. “I wish he didn’t. I just don’t feel that way about him. I never have, and, I mean, he really can’t compete with the Queen of all Media.” She tilted her head back to give the other woman a mischievous grin. “Can he?”

“Of course not,” Cat replied with an affirmative nod. “Well, now _that’s_ settled,” she leaned down to steal a kiss, “we should get some sleep. Carter is going to burst when he finds you here tomorrow morning, and I’m going to need all the rest I can get to handle you two feeding off of each other’s excitement plus get all of us to work and school on time.”

“You love that we feed off each other’s excitement,” the younger woman teased as they began to settle. “Besides, it’s hard not to be excited when there’s… _pancakes_?”

The older woman laughed. “I’ll consider it.”

“That’s all I’m asking,” Kara said through her smirk. They were _absolutely_ getting pancakes. She pulled in a deep breath and let it out slowly, calming herself down from the highs and lows of the night. “Good night, Cat,” she whispered and was surprised to hear light snores in response.

That sound was the most comforting sound she’d ever heard.

Of all the gifts Cat could give her, the one she continuously blessed Kara with was the gift of trust, and what better show of trust than to fall asleep first with the person sharing your bed? Kara knew the trust wasn’t misplaced. She’d never do anything to purposefully to betray Cat, but it was nice to see trust so freely given. Too often, she found she had to prove she was worthy of humans’ trust. This human gave it freely and quickly.

This human, she thought as she drifted to sleep, was a gift she would forever be thankful for.


	10. Potential

“Clark, I need a favor.” Kara hit send on her IM and hoped he would answer her quickly. She’d gotten pancakes this morning, so maybe her luck would hold out for this, too.

“Hey cousin!” She took in a deep breath and thanked the gods he was actually in front of his computer. “What’s up?”

“It’s not a thing I can IM you about.” She frowned and quickly glanced around the room as if half expecting someone to be reading over her shoulder. “Can we meet?”

“Sounds serious. When and where?”

She leaned forward a bit in her chair to check in on Cat. Her boss was busily working away at something on her computer. “Soon, and it’s not life or death or anything like that. It’s more,” she hesitated for a second, “personal,” she finished and hit send as a feeling of dread hit the pit of her stomach. Was she really going to talk to her cousin about her sex life?

“Okay, well then, how about tonight? We can meet halfway. That work?”

She flipped through her planner and glanced over her Outlook calendar. Everything seemed fine. “Yes, thank you.”

“No problem. Talk to you around 6?”

She wrote it down on her calendar as ‘The Talk-> OMG THIS IS SO EMBARASSING.’ “Yup, I’ll talk to you then.”

Taking in a deep breath, she stood to head for Cat’s office. The older woman glanced up just as she knocked and motioned her inside. “Is something on your mind, Kiera?”

Kara rolled her eyes. She understood why, really, but it wasn’t any less annoying to not be called by her actual name when less than 24 hours before Cat had been groaning it out as they fooled around with each other. “I wanted to let you know that I have an appointment with my cousin at six tonight.”

“Oh?” Cat’s interest clearly piqued. “Anything I should know about?”

“No.” The younger woman winced. “Well, at least not yet, but, if I do find something out, you’ll be the first to know.”

Cat seemed to consider the statement for a moment as she stared at the fidgeting woman in front of her. “You know, it’s odd. Generally speaking, I hate it when people fidget and blush in my presence, but, from you, I find it endearing and maybe even a little sexy.”

“What?” Kara’s eyes popped open wide and she sucked in a breath. “Cat! Should you even be saying things like that _right now_? I’m mean, we’re _at the office_.”

The older blonde shrugged nonchalantly. “No one can hear us. They can only see us, and, frankly, you’re acting how you always do when you’re in my office. As far as they’re concerned,” she nodded toward the glass doors, “it’s business as usual.”

“I _do not_ always act like… like… however it is you say I’m acting.” The younger woman could feel the pout forming on her face but couldn’t stop it.

“Of course not,” Cat replied with a knowing smirk. “I suppose this means we won’t see you tonight, which is fine. I’ll let Carter know, but I would feel better if you’d text me when you get home regardless of the time.”

“I can do that.” Kara huffed, crossing her arms and trying to control her pout. “Do I really blush and fidget around you a lot?”

The knowing smirk on Cat’s face grew to a predatory grin. “Do I often flirt with you to fluster you?”

“Right.” Kara sighed, reaching up to push her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “I’ll just be going back to my desk now.”

“Don’t forget to have those emails to me before you leave, Kiera,” Cat yelled out to the retreating form of her very red in the face assistant. She chuckled to herself as she went back to work.

Flustering Kara was one of her favorite pastimes.

* * *

 

Kara landed in the middle of a fallow field in Kansas. The evening was lovely, so she took a moment to look around and simply take everything in. National City was pretty in its own way. Southern California is always pretty, if not sometimes a touch too hot for humans’ liking, and Metropolis, from what she had seen, was a typical bustling city on the East Coast that didn’t quite rival the city of New York but didn’t embarrass the state of New York for being located within its borders.

However, Kansas was so very different from either that it made her feel like she was visiting a different planet. Where her and her cousin’s respective cities were always awake and always busy, the farmland of Kansas was quiet and peacefully calm. It wasn’t as relaxing as flying, but it ranked up there.

A few moments later, she was joined by her cousin who softly touched down in front of her. “I’m sorry to get right to it, but I promised Louis I’d be home in time to go to sleep at a reasonable hour tonight.”

Kara chuckled. “I understand, and I promise this won’t take long… probably.” Wrapping her arms around herself and taking in a very deep breath, she began explaining everything to Kal starting with realizing her feelings for Cat and ending with, “…which is why I need a little bit of Kryptonite. I know you said you don’t keep any of it around, but do you know where I could get some that couldn’t be, you know, tracked?”

She was blushing so hard she suspected her face might have actual steam coming off it, and there was absolutely no way at all she could look her cousin in the face. His silence wasn’t helping her feel at all comfortable with this situation.

“Well,” he began after taking much too long to reply, “ _I_ don’t keep any on hand, but do you remember that I said I gave some to someone I trusted?”

“Yeah, you said you wanted to make sure that, if something bad happened, you could be stopped.” She frowned. This wasn’t a conversation she really wanted to have. He was her only blood relation. The idea of him being gone was almost too much for her to take in.

“That’s right.” He shifted uncomfortably, and she glanced up to see he was just as embarrassed as she was, which actually made her feel better. “I’m willing to bet he probably has more than what I gave him stashed away.” Clark looked around the now dark field as if searching for an answer to a question running around in his mind. “He would probably give you some if we asked and… um… _explained_ , but I just think you should know that he’s got a lot of… _issues_. I mean, his heart is in the right place, and he’s extremely smart, but…”

“It’s Batman, isn’t it?” Kara rolled her eyes. Was she this social awkward, too?

“Uh… yeah, so, if you’re willing to go to Gotham with me tomorrow after I talk to him, he might be able to help, but, Kara, I have to ask,” Clark forced eye contact, and all hint of embarrassment left him as a deep seriousness took over, “Are you sure? Is she really the one you want to be the person that guides you through this new experience? Does she care for you as she should? Does she treat you well?” His eyes softened with concern. “Does she make you happy?”

Kara gave him a small but sappy smile. “So much, Kal, and, yes, she does treat me well.”

He blew out a puff of amused air. “You know, Louis can’t stand her.”

“The feeling is mutual, I assure you,” she replied with a chuckle. “Do you have any idea what happened between those two?”

“No, and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know.” He seemed to shake his misgivings off as he pushed into the air. “I’ll call you tomorrow as soon as I know something, okay?”

She joined him, pulling him into a hug before pushing away to go fly in the opposite direction. “Okay, and thank you, Kal.”

“Hey, anything for family,” he called over his shoulder before he burst away from her.

She smiled, blasting into full speed flight toward her home and landing in her apartment a short time later. It was nearing 8:30, and she debated whether she should go to Cat’s instead of texting but decided against it.

She needed some time alone to process everything. There would be plenty of time to be with Cat some other day.

Her text was quick but enough to quell Cat’s curiosity for the evening. “Kal’s got a lead. Will know more tomorrow after he makes a few calls. May have to fly out to another city tomorrow night. Sleep well, Cat.”

She snorted at the reply. Typical Cat. “Okay.”

* * *

 

“Soooo… what do you say to a board game night?” Winn pushed his seat over to Kara’s desk. “You, me, James, and whoever? Some Settlers? Maybe a little ‘Race for the Galaxy’ action?” He waggled his eyebrows and grinned. “What do you say?”

“I can’t.” She glanced over from her monitor to give him an apologetic look. “I’m waiting on a call from… someone.” Telling him about her cousin would open way too many Pandora’s boxes. It was best to keep that all as secretive as possible. Besides, not _everyone_ and their dog needed to know about her sex life. “Sorry.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound like a poorly made up excuse at all.” With a heavy sigh, he leaned toward her. “Come on, Kara. It’s been forever since we’ve all hung out. I mean, saving the city is great and all, but don’t you miss, you know, socializing and stuff?”

She tried not to roll her eyes. He really had no idea how badly she wanted to ‘socialize,’ just not with him. “Winn, look, I’m really sorry, but there’s a thing I have to take care of tonight. I really can’t.”

“Is it Cat? It’s Cat isn’t it?” He scrunched his face up and made gagging sounds. “Kara, I really don’t want to hear about you and Cat.”

“Okay, first of all, stop it, and, second of all, keep it down.” She glanced around the room to make sure no one had heard them.

He shrugged. “All I’m saying is that, just because you have a… whatever is going on there doesn’t mean you can forget about us. Come on, we’re the super friends!”

Kara slowly closed her eyes and rubbed at her forehead. “Please, _please_ never call us that again.” She looked at him and groaned. “I’m sorry I’ve been neglecting you. Really, I am. That’s… that’s really wrong of me, and I’ll try to fix it, but I do honestly have something tonight. Can we raincheck it to this weekend?”

He gave her suspicious look. “Will _she_ be there?”

Kara sighed. “Probably not. Her schedule is usually full on Saturdays, so it’ll just be the usual gang, okay?”

Before he could reply, her phone rang. She pulled it too quickly for him to see the movement, and the hard look he received told him to step away, which he did by holding his hands up in innocence and pushing his chair back to his own desk.

“Hey,” she said in a strangled voice. She was trying not to sound too hopeful. “Did you learn anything?”

“Yeah.” Clark sounded pleasant but not his usual cheerful self. “He’s got some, just like I thought he would, but he insists he gets to talk to you before he’ll let you have any of it.”

“I thought that was part of the plan? I mean, isn’t that why I’m going there?” She shook her head. Something was off.

“I was hoping he’d just leave it, and we could pick it up. Like I said, he has a few issues, and sometimes he can be really… well, harsh.” He grunted. “I was hoping to spare you from that.”

“If it means that we can fix _my_ issue, then I’m willing to have a chat. Besides, how bad could it possible be?”

Clark chuckled, but it lacked humor. “You’d be surprised, cousin. I’ll meet you at our usual spot at six, and we can head to his town from there. Will that work? I don’t really want you going there alone.”

“Clark,” her voice held an edge of threat, “I can handle myself. You _know_ that.”

“Yeah, I do, but you don’t really understand what that city is like, and, frankly, _I_ don’t like going there alone, okay?”

She startled at how surprised she was at that admission. What could possible scare her cousin? “Okay… okay, I’ll meet you at the usual place then.”

“Good.” His relief was palatable.

“Thanks, Clark.”

“Always.”

She slowly set her phone down and looked toward Cat’s office to find it empty. Checking the time, she realized her boss was in a meeting. She knew she should wait to tell Cat in person, but her nerves wouldn’t let her hold it in, so she sent the other woman a text. “Going out again tonight. My cousin’s lead may have paid off.”

The response was a bit too quick. Cat must have been waiting for her message. “Good, but be careful. Please let me know that you’ve made it back in one piece. Tell me where you're going."

Kara chuckled. Right, Cat _would_ want to know that, but should she tell her? Maybe so. The older woman would have her head if she found out because Supergirl was in the news helping saving Gotham and no one told Cat Grant about it first. “Gotham."

"God, you're off to that insanity?" Kara could practically hear the worry and sarcasm dripping from Cat's text. "You better not bring home any souvenirs. Our city has enough issues without any of the bat's coming along with you."

The younger blonde rolled her eyes. "I'll leave only footprints... and I'll text you when I get back."

"No text." Kara frowned, wondering what she'd done to make Cat mad, but the follow message made it clear that the other woman wasn't angry. She was concerned. "Come over. You have a key."

Kara nodded, sending one last text before rushing to finish up her work for the day so she could meet her cousin and get this over with. "Okay, but I can't promise I won't be freezing when I get in bed."

"Take a hot shower first." She snorted at the reply. Typical Cat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very sorry for the delay in updating. My country's election results threw me for a loop, and then there was family blowouts, a roommate move, and a national holiday. I should be back on schedule soon, though. I hope you're enjoying everything so far!


	11. Bargaining

“Yeah, Kal, I get it. He’s got a lot of gadgets and a lot of demons.” Kara sighed as they neared their meeting place in Gotham Central Park. From their vantage point, the entire city looked to her like someone had taken pictures of a place straight out of the 1920s using a sepia lens filter.

The city was dark and sort of grainy feeling, and, despite the approaching late hour, there was still a lot of activity. She picked up the sounds of honest people trying to make it to and from work and more crime than she could process well.

The concern must have shown because she felt her cousin’s hand on her arm a moment later. “It’s better since he started working nights.”

She looked at him in disbelief for a moment. “I hate to think what it was like _before_.”

He sighed, turning back to scan the park. “Worse.” He veered to the left, and she followed, still trying to map in her mind what Gotham must have been like before Batman and still coming up short with an answer. “There he is.”

Glancing in the direction Kal pointed, she saw a long, sleek black car nestled in a secluded part of the park. Kara tried to scan it with her x-ray vision. “Steel?”

“A steel lining, yeah. Batman likes his privacy.” Superman landed a few feet away from the driver’s side door of the car with Kara just a few inches to his left. “Batman?”

The top of the car slide back to reveal a single driver’s seat surrounded by consoles and displays. She watched with wide eyes as the tall, dark figure in the car jumped out, landing in front of them in a kneel and slowly standing to his full height, which mimicked her cousin’s.

“Superman.” His voice was low and scratchy. Between the stance, the suit, and the overall aura, Kara could see why people feared this human. She was a little nervous herself, and all he’d said was one word. “Supergirl.”

She gave a little wave. “Hi.”

“So,” Kal began, trying to sound nonchalant and failing miserably. If Kara ever doubted their relation, this cemented the fact they were family. “We’re here, and you said that, if we came…”

Batman held up a hand to stop the rambling and walked over to stand in front of Kara. “How much?”

“Uh, you mean how much do I need?” She shifted her weight and mentally kicked herself. They didn’t know that yet. “Well, the thing is…”

“You don’t know.” Batman grunted and turned to Clark. “I did some research after you contacted me. Looks like it’s a good thing I did.” He reached down and pulled something from a pouch on his belt. Holding out his hand, he revealed a small, metal box. “This is just enough to do what you need, but, before I give this to you, I need you to answer some questions.”

She took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Okay, but do I get to ask some questions of my own?”

Her cousin gave her a warning look. “Supergirl…”

“It’s fine.” Batman narrowed his eyes at her. “Reporter’s curiosity, I presume?”

“Reporter? I’m... I’m not a reporter.” She adamantly shook her head in the negative.

“Yet,” came the dark reply. Nodding toward his car as he returned the small box to his belt, he jumped back in. “Going to the Batcave. It’s the best place to have this conversation. Superman, I assume you remember how to get there?”

“Yes, we’ll meet you there.” Clark gave Kara one look and was off. She followed with a groan. This night was going to be long. She could feel it.

* * *

 

“Wait a minute.” She stopped in the air to hover over the gigantic house known by everyone in the world as Wayne Manor. “Kal, tell me what I’m thinking isn’t what I think I’m thinking.”

“If you’re thinking that Batman is the butler, you’d be wrong,” he said with a smirk. “Come on, he’s waiting for us.” With a quick rush of speed, Superman moved head first into what looked like a sewage drain. As he neared, it opened for him, and he sped in with Kara following.

A moment later, she found herself in the Batcave.

The vast open area of the cave with its natural rock juxtaposed with the overwhelming amount of technology made her pause. It was a weird combination, and her brain, naturally, focused on the most important question, which was: How do you keep all of that equipment from short circuiting in a cave? Caves are supposed to be kind of wet, right?

“Something catch your eye, Supergirl?” Batman’s voice pulled her back. She glanced down to see the two men watching her from a landing that was half filled with a huge monitor and console.

“Sorry, I just… this place really puts my little crime fighting computer geek helper to shame.” She lightly touched down next to her cousin. “Also, how do you keep everything dry?”

“This part of the cave is dead. No humidity.” Batman crossed his arms and glanced between the two of them. “I brought you here because I’m about to ask you a personal question.” He walked over to the main portion of the monitors and sat down. His hands flew over the console and several files filled with scientific information opened onto the screen. “I can’t let you have the kryptonite without knowing exactly where it’s going.” He turned back around to look at them both. “It’s too dangerous. Tell me who you are without the cape. Although it would be easy enough for me to find out exactly who you are without you telling me, I’d rather hear it from you.”

Kara turned to Clark. “Did you tell him who you are?”

“Yes.” Kal shrugged. “It only seemed fair for him to know after I figured out who he was.”

She nodded, chewing at her bottom lip before turning back to the other man in the room. “Kara Danvers. I live in National City, and I work for CatCo.” She frowned, her mind clicking in on something. “Which you already knew because you asked me about fifteen minutes ago if I was working on my reporter skills.”

Reaching up to pull his cowl down, Bruce snorted. “I needed to know you’d tell me the truth.” He tilted his head in consideration. “Good catch.”

“I’m intimacy deprived, not unobservant,” she deadpanned, not even bothering to stop her eye roll. “Look, I really do appreciate your help, if you’re willing to give it to me, but I don’t understand why we’re doing all of this.” She sighed, wrapping her arms around herself. “I just want to be able to spend time with my girlfriend without having to worry that I’m accidentally going to kill her during a moment of passion.” She winced. No one had actually voiced that concern out loud, and hearing it made everything all the more real. “I care about her.”

“Enough to step away if this didn’t work?” Bruce held the box up again.

“She’d never allow that to happen, even if I tried.” Kara chuckled. “Once Cat gets her claws into something she considers hers, she doesn’t usually let go. Besides, we would work something out. This,” she nodded toward the box, “would be amazing to have, but it’s not _everything_ , and, if you don’t want me to have it, that’s fine. That doesn’t mean I won’t keep looking.”

“If you did continue to look,” Batman countered in warning, “you could put yourself and everyone you know in danger. All it takes is one criminal trying to make a name for himself to find out that Supergirl is trying to be less than super by way of finding out you’re looking for Kryptonite. They would try to take advantage of the situation.”

“Which is why it would be better,” Clark cut in, “if you’d let her have it, Bruce. What’s the harm here?”

Batman nodded backwards at the screen. “I told you I did the research, and I know that what I have here is exactly enough. If you allow the DEO to continue to do this research, they’ll eventually learn exactly how much is enough to kill either of you without much trouble for the effort. It’s _dangerous_ for too many people to have this knowledge. If I give this to you, then you have to call off the research.”

“The DEO? But S.T.A.R. Labs already knows how to figure this out.” Kara shook her head. “Besides, my sister…”

“Is very talented, and I have no doubt she will eventually figure it out, Supergirl, but it’s not her I’m concerned about. It’s everyone else. Agree to call off the research, and I’ll give you the Kryptonite.”

Kara sighed heavily. “Okay, but I don’t think Alex will stop researching it just because I tell her to stop.”

“You tell her to stop researching, and I’ll take care of the rest.” Bruce slide the box back into his belt. “S.T.A.R. labs lost the researcher who calculated the amount of Kryptonite to Wayne Technologies a few years ago. She's working on something top secret for the Wayne Corp's private, non-government owned technology wing, and, curiously, all her research at S.T.A.R. labs regarding that information has gone missing." A corner of Bruce's lips flickered up for a just a second. "They can't seem to reproduce her results." He stood to walk over to a phone sitting on a nearby table. "Once the research is gone, I’ll personally deliver the Kryptonite to you. I’ll have Alfred set up a lunch date with Cat Grant. It’s been a while since Bruce Wayne has visited his friend in National City, and his favorite night club outside of Gotham is there. They should really have a night out. I’ll give her a call tomorrow.”

“Don’t bother.” Kara pulled out her phone and flipped to Cat’s calendar. “Will a week from tomorrow work for you?”

Bruce nodded. “I’ll still call for appearance sake, but I will put it down on my calendar.”

“Your… Bat-calendar?” Kara smirked as she wrote a note to remind herself to set the appointment tomorrow. “Are you going to come in your Batplane?”

“Kara,” Kal’s voice echoed a little in the cave, “stop provoking the bear. He’s helping you, remember?”

“Right, sorry.” Kara put her phone away and ducked her head. “I’m a little punch drunk, I think. It’s getting late, and I haven’t slept well… or much recently.”

“Then it’s time for you to go home, Supergirl.” Bruce set the phone back in its cradle and turned to the other two. “Send me a text once you’ve completed your end of the bargain.”

“Can do.” She nodded and pushed up to leave but stopped just a few feet from the ground. “Um… what number do I send the text to?”

That managed to get a very small smirk from the Batman. “Give me your phone, and I’ll put the number in under ‘Tab E. Nohp.”

Clark raised an eyebrow. “What?”

Kara snorted. “It’s batphone, sort of.”

* * *

 

It was nearly two in the morning when Kara finally made it to Cat’s bedroom balcony. The lights were out, and the penthouse was quiet. For a moment, she debated going back to her place. It was too late, and she didn’t really want to wake the other woman up.

As she stood debating her options, the balcony doors opened to reveal a sleep ruffled Cat. “Come inside. I can hear you thinking through the doors.”

“Sorry,” Kara muttered but stepped in, leaning down to place a quick kiss on the older woman’s pouty lips as she passed. “It’s just so late.”

“And I told you to come home when you got back from that insane place,” Cat replied in a sleep drenched voice. “Change and come to bed,” she ordered through a yawn before slipping back into the tossed covers.

The phrase ‘come home’ made the younger blonde stop for a split second, but she let it go. Cat was mostly asleep, it was very late, and, truth to tell, all Kara really wanted to do was change, get into bed, and wrap around the smaller woman.

All discussions could wait until the morning.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I'm sorry I'm slow on updates here. The last couple of months are just so frickin' busy, you know? Anyway, please let me know how you're doing. I know it's a ssslllloooooowwww burn. I promise it'll get better soon (in terms of chapters away from payoff). Thanks for reading this! ~Liv


	12. Pacing

The alarm sounded, and Kara contemplated blasting it into oblivion with her heat vision. At best, she’d gotten two hours of sleep, and her body was beginning to feel the toll of spending too many late nights flying around and not enough time resting.

As she shifted to allow Cat to turn the alarm off, she wondered if she’d fully recovered from the volcano incident. Her body was dragging down too much for something as simple as some late night flying. Maybe Cat had been right to suggest she take those extra days off?

“Even with your eyes closed, you look tired.” Kara could feel the other woman push up in the bed to loom over her. “Did you sleep at all?”

Slowly opening her eyes, the younger blonde gave a weary smile. “A little?”

“You know I told you to take the rest of the week off.” Cat reached out to push the hair off of Kara’s face as her eyes slowly ran over the other woman’s frame as if looking for signs of distress. “Maybe you should stay in bed today?”

“And Cat Grant miss out on her latte?” Kara was trying for witty and funny, but even she could hear the defeat in her declaration. “Never!”

“Well, that settles it. I’m taking Carter to his father's and, _you’re_ staying right where you are, and I’ll be back around noon.”

Kara forced herself to sit up, grunting at the effort to not accidentally destroy the bed in the process. “Stay here? Cat, just give me a few moments to pull myself together, and I’ll be at work on time. I promise.”

“No, you’re staying put. I mean it. You’re clearly exhausted. As my assistant, you’re no good to me if you can’t think clearly, _and_ need I remind you that, as Supergirl, you’re no good to _anyone_ if your mind is cloudy? Besides, it's Saturday, Kara. Even _I_ need a break from work.”

For a few very quick seconds, they had a standoff of wills, but the poorly stifled yawn that threatened to take over Kara’s entire body destroyed any chance the younger woman had of winning the fight. “Okay, but…”

“But nothing, _Kiera_ ,” Cat said with a devilish smirk as she slid from the bed. “I’m going to go about my morning, and you’re going to rest. I’ll be home around noon.” She rolled her eyes at the protest on the other woman’s face. “Before you remind me of the upcoming deadline, I’ll be working from home the rest of the day.”

“Fine.” Kara’s pout was mild, softened by her relief at being able to sleep more. “But, when you come back, can you bring me something to eat?”

The older woman huffed out an overly dramatic, off put sigh. “That depends on what you want. If you’re about to ask me for the entire Denny’s menu, then the answer is no.”

From the nest of blankets and pillows Kara had managed to create, she peaked up through a hole and gave the other woman a dopey smile. “That actually sounds really good, but I was hoping for Thai?”

“Alright, but only because I need to eat, too.” Giving the woman nestled in the middle of her bed a look that spoke of affection and mock irritation, Cat turned to head to the bathroom. “Don’t you dare work while I’m away.”

Kara managed to push an affirmative sound from her throat before she fell asleep to the comforting smell of Cat and the sound of the other woman happily going about her morning routine.

* * *

 

Phone. Kara whined and shifted in the bed.

It’s the phone. Kara groaned and pulled the covers more firmly over her head.

The phone is ringing again.

With a loud roar of defeat, she pushed up from her fort and lunged for her phone where it sat on the bedside table. It was only ten in the morning, and all she wanted to do was sleep, so of course someone would keep calling her. Checking the number, she slumped down. It was Alex, which meant one of two things. Either something was about to destroy the world, or she’d somehow managed to worry her sister. Both were equally bad.

Reluctantly, she returned the last of the past four calls and wasn’t surprised to hear Alex answer with, “Why aren’t you answering your phone?”

“I’ve been asleep,” Kara mildly protested and a timely yawn followed.

“Why? Has something happened? Are you hurt?”

“No.” She swallowed down the sleep in her voice to try to sound more normal. “I’m fine. I just had a late night because I went to see Clark. Everything is fine. Anyway, what’s up?”

She could practically feel the skepticism in her sister’s voice. “I called to see how you were coming along with your search for the _stuff_.”

Kara rolled her eyes. Now it sounded like they were talking about a bad drug deal. “Yeah about that,” she scratched at the back of head and squinted her eyes toward the half open curtains. She really should have this conversation in person, but she just didn’t have it in her for that level of confrontation. “I’m calling it off.”

“What?” Alex’s confusion was instant. Her anger was a slow build. “What do you mean you’re calling it off? After everything J’onn and I have done to help you? What happen? Did Cat _do_ something to you? Why are you calling this off _now_?”

Cat had been right. Kara’s brain was cotton, and she felt completely useless and defenseless against her sister’s barrage of questions. She needed more sleep. “Alex,” she took in a breath and cleared her throat a little. Really, she was still half asleep, “Cat and I are fine. I just think that,” she really should have thought of something _before_ telling Alex to call off the research, “well, there might be better ways to go about figuring out how to, you know, be intimate with Cat that don’t involve me possibly being powerless. I just,” she winced; this all sounded so contrived, “I want to try a few different options before we go back to that, so, for now, I think we should just let it go.”

“Let it go?” Alex huffed. “So what? You’re Elsa now?”

“I do have the looks for it,” Kara shot back and instantly felt a little pride at being able to give a comeback so quickly. “Look, all I’m asking is that you stop because, the more I think about it, the more uncomfortable I am with the possibility of someone out there knowing the exact amount of ‘the stuff’ it'd take to take me out. Does that make sense?”

There was a long pause before Alex replied. “Okay, I’ll stop, but I’ll keep what I’ve figured out so far stored at the DEO just in case you change your mind. How’s that?”

“Thank you.” Kara mentally thanked all the deities she could for her sister not pushing this too much. “So, was that everything? Because I’m still _really_ tired.”

“I just wanted to check in on you. I’m glad you’re taking the day off. Call me if you need anything, okay?”

The blonde nodded before realizing no one could see her. “Okay. I’ll talk to you later.” With the goodbyes out of the way, she started to toss her phone onto the nightstand before remembering the rest of her deal. She quickly scrolled to Tab’s entry and shot a quick text. “Called my sister’s research off. Am taking the day off today. You’ll have to talk to Cat directly. Good luck.”

The response was surprisingly quick, and she had to snort at the response. “I’m Batman.”

He may have a lot of demons, but Bruce was growing on her.

* * *

 

“Kara,” Cat’s voice was gentle and light. “You need to wake up.”

The younger blonde hummed and shifted closer to the fingers softly rubbing her ear. It was so soothing.

“Come on, wake up. I’ve brought you your Thai food.” Kara let out a small, happy sigh and slowly opened her eyes to find Cat looking down at her with a bemused expression. “Did you sleep?”

She nodded lazily and tilted her head to catch Cat’s hand between her cheek and shoulder. Kara rubbed against the other woman and let out a quiet, contented moan.

Cat chuckled. “Maybe _I_ should call _you_ Cat?”

“If it means sleeping all day and being scratched and rubbed by you when you get home, then I’ll happily be your kitty cat,” Kara replied as she maneuvered out of her nest to wrap around the other woman as best she could while Cat remained perched on the side of the bed.

“I’d love to scratch and rub you every day when I get home,” Cat replied with a dark, teasing lilt to her tone. “Sounds like fun.”

Kara looked up with wide eyes. “Oh God, I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Too bad,” Cat said with a shrug. “I really think you _should_ have.”

“I can’t decide if you’re a good or bad influence on me,” Kara mumbled while forcing herself to sit up. She pushed her unruly hair around until it fell away from her face as she willed both eyes to remain open. “So, Thai?”

“In the kitchen. Why don’t you get yourself cleaned up while I go get the food ready?”

The younger blonde grinned. “You’re so great. I love… _Thai_.” She tried to keep the cringe off her face. Too soon! It was too soon for that… wasn’t it? “I mean, who doesn’t love Thai food?”

Cat gave her a leveled stare for a second too long. “I’ll be downstairs.”

“Yeah, right, downstairs.” Kara physically backpedaled out of the bed and toward the bathroom. “Got it. I’ll just,” she awkwardly pointed to the bathroom door, “go do, you know, bathroom stuff, and then go down there… to the kitchen where you’ll be with the Thai food that I love so much.”

The older woman released a heavy sigh as she stood to head down the stairs. “You need more sleep.”

From her place behind the closed door, Kara yelp out a ‘yup’ before turning to stare at her reflection. “What the heck?” She slowly shook her head at herself. “Where did that come from?” Running a hand over her face, she gave her mind a mental shake.

Physical attraction and emotional affection were one thing, but just blurting out you love someone when you’re half asleep? She groaned. Could she possible be any more pathetic and socially awkward right now?

With a huff, she began putting herself together enough to go downstairs to Cat all the while praying the older woman hadn’t caught that hiccup in judgement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are a fantastic holiday gift. Just sayin'...


	13. Revelations

“Can you actually choke?” Cat raised an eyebrow as she watched the other woman eating way too fast to feel comfortable about the situation. “And, if you _do_ choke, how would I go about saving you from dying via suffocation? I’d really hate to have to explain to the world that, one, my assistant is also Supergirl, two, Supergirl choked to death on Thai food in my kitchen, and, three, I’ve been dating my assistant. It’s too many headlines all at the same time. You know I prefer to run those kind of big news stories on different weeks. It’s better for sales.”

Kara swallowed down her food with a quick gulp of water and turned her attention to Cat. “You don’t want people to know you’re dating your assistant?” She smirked while taking another drink.

“Yes, I’m glad that’s what you picked up from that because that is _exactly_ what I meant.” The older woman rolled her eyes but didn’t bother to hold down her chuckle. “How do you feel?”

“Better.” The young blonde gave a little shrug. “I guess you were right about taking the day off and sleeping more.”

“When am I ever wrong?” The petite blonde smirked as she pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose and turned to her laptop perched on the kitchen island. “I know I told you not to work today, but I need to ask you about my calendar for tomorrow. Who is ‘He Won’t Stop’? It’s a tentative Sunday brunch date.”

“Oh, yeah, I meant to tell you about that, but things kept distracting me.” Kara flinched a little. “Donald Trump?”

“Kiera,” Cat snapped in return, “I do _not_ want to meet with that man. He’s sleazy, and, every time there are rumors about the two of us doing _anything_ Catco stock goes down. You know I never intended to keep that lunch date.”

“Well, yeah, but I still have to ask. I intended to call his assistant today and tell them you had a business thing come up and you couldn’t make it to lunch tomorrow, but then, well…” With her best apologetic look, Kara shrugged, shrinking away at what she assumed was about to be a chastising remark from Cat.

“I see.” The older woman glowered for a moment. “Well, I suppose I could…” Her phone rang, cutting into the next biting remark and allowing Kara a welcome respite. She quietly ate as she listened in on the conversations. Super hearing was a gift and a curse, and, right now, it was entertainment.

“This is Cat Grant.”

“Cat! It’s Bruce! How are you doing these days?” Kara nearly choked on her noodles. Bruce sounded _nothing_ like Batman. This version sounded cheerful and outgoing.

“Bruce? It’s been forever. What are you doing calling me when we both should be working, or do you work?” Cat turned to Kara and rolled her eyes, mouthing ‘It’s Bruce Wayne’ at the other woman who nodded in understanding.

“Come on, Cat, that’s not fair. You know I’m only a playboy by night. By day, I’m a mild mannered philanthropist and CEO of Wayne Enterprises.” Kara was fairly certain that was a dig at her cousin, but she couldn’t quite figure out how. “And, on that note, that’s exactly why I’m calling.”

The older woman raised here eyebrows and released a long, heavy, highly annoyed sigh. “You want me to donate to Wayne Enterprises?”

Bruce chuckled good-naturedly. “Something like that. I’m coming into town tomorrow to do a little fundraising at the ‘Barstool & Broom,’ and I was wondering if you’d like to join us? It’s only 500 a head, and the money goes toward the ‘Faith in Children’ fund, which _is_ heavily sponsored by Wayne Enterprises and generous donors,” his voiced lifted in a hopeful lilt, “such as yourself?”

“Really, Bruce, calling at the last minute?” Cat incredulously snorted. “Why is the first I’m hearing about it, and it's on a Sunday night? What are you thinking?”

Kara was impressed with Bruce’s acting chops. “Frankly, Cat,” Bruce replied apologetically, “it’s last minute. The owner of the club just now allowed us to use their venue, and he would only give it to us tomorrow. Honestly, I’m scrambling to get the seats filled, but the Children’s fund is such a good cause. Do you know how many children are left homeless from the uptick in supervillain crimes in this nation? They need the help, and I firmly believe it is our duty, as the privileged, to help them where we can.”

“I assume you’re not asking me as your plus one, correct?” The bite in Cat’s voice was diminishing by the second. If it didn’t look out of place and suspicious, Kara would’ve started sending text message high fives to Tab for his outstanding performance and manipulation abilities. It bordered on scary how good he was at this.

“Well, that depends. Are you offering, because, if you are…”

“I am _not_.” The older blonde grunted and shook her head in irritation. “I’m taken, Bruce, thank you.”

“Is that so?” He actually sounded genuinely surprised. “Who is the lucky guy?”

“What makes you think it’s a guy?” Cat cut back at him with an eye roll.

“You’re right. That was presumptuous of me. You and I both know you can have your pick of _anyone_ you want, but, seriously, who is the lucky _person_?”

The older blonde tapped at her chin with the forefinger of her free hand for a moment as she considered her options and then shrugged as if to say ‘fuck it.’ “Kara Danvers.”

Kara nearly broke the chopsticks in her hand. What was happening? They’d discussed this. They were waiting to tell people until Cat at least told the board. “Cat,” she hissed, “what are you doing?”

The other woman held her free hand up to silence her. “She’s lovely, and I expect you to not so much as shoot one flirtatious sentence at her because she’s _mine_.”

“So I take it I can put you down for two tickets, then?” Bruce sounded as cordial as when the conversation began. “Would you like to purchase any for anyone else, or might you have some suggestions on other people who may be able to attend tomorrow night? It starts at seven. Red carpet is at six.”

“Six? I’ll have to work through lunch to make it there on time.” Cat mouthed ‘perfect’ to Kara. “Yes, put me down for two and email me the link so I can pay for them. You have my address. I’ll reply with some names.”

“Great, Cat! I look forward to seeing you _and_ your girlfriend there.” With a final goodbye, Bruce was off the phone, and Kara was out of her chair.

“Cat! You haven’t even told the board about us yet. What are you doing?”

The older woman narrowed her eyes, waiting for a second. “Are you done?”

“Am I done? What do you mean ‘am I done?’ What if you lose your position for sleeping with your assistant? How can you just casually throw out that we’re dating like that and _now_ we’re going to go out to a huge Bruce Wayne sponsored event where every social media correspondent in a two hundred mile radius will be covering who’s there and who’s with them. What… what…”

“Kara, that’s enough.” Cat finished the reply to Bruce’s email with a final hit to the enter key and looked up at the younger woman over the top of her glasses. “We’ll deal with the issue right now.”

“Okay,” Kara nodded, crossing her arms and staring down at Cat. “How?”

“With a phone call,” the older woman replied nonchalantly as she again picked her phone up and turned her computer around, motioning to the screen. “Put in my payment information and do whatever you do for when I pay for charity things like this while I call the board chair.”

Kara threw her hands up for a moment as she blew air out in exasperation and reached down to do as she was told.

“Jack? Cat.” The younger women felt sick. This was not going to end well. She finished paying and saving the relevant documents for Cat’s files before returning to her seat to listen in.

“Yes, Jack, I’m aware that you’re busy. We’re _all_ busy.”

“Fine, Cat, what’s on your mind?” At least this chairman was less hostile to Cat than the other one had been.

“I’m assuming you’re in the weekly board meeting right now? And, by weekly board meeting,” she snorted with not so disguised disgust, "I mean your Saturday golf game with the rest of the board?"

“Yes.” He sounded as apprehensive as Kara felt.

“Good. Put me on speaker phone. I have something to tell the entire board.” Cat’s posture straightened as she waited. “Can everyone hear me well?” There were murmurs of confirmation on the line. “Perfect. I realize it’s unusual for me to interrupt a board meeting, but I want to bring something to your attention now before it becomes public so that you have time to absorb the information.” The tension was palatable as they waited to see what shoe was about to drop. “I’m dating my current assistant.”

The line was silent for about ten seconds while people processed, and then it erupted to sounds of negativity and concern. “I know and understand all of your concerns, but they are unfounded. Technically, Kara doesn’t actually work directly for me. She works in the secretary pool under Joyce. I never changed that in HR because, frankly, I didn’t feel like it. There is a strict evaluation process for promotions and merit pay increases within the company. As you know, Kara is evaluated by several people before consideration for either is given, and it is up to HR’s discretion to approve or deny my requests for Kara’s pay increases or possible future promotions, not mine or Joyce’s, though I do have the privilege of delivering the good news if it comes. If you check her employee file, you’ll note that all of her evaluations from all areas of people evaluating her have been outstanding, and she is highly recommended for promotion by more than myself.”

Kara’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Did Cat just say she’s been recommended for promotion?

“So, what are you suggesting, Cat?” Jack sounded irritated but resigned. He knew the most desirable option for the board was going to be a no from Cat. “We promote her so you can keep sleeping her?”

“No, absolutely not. If Kara receives a promotion, it will be on he own merits. I’m saying that she doesn’t need to sleep with me to get ahead. She’s talented and skilled all on her own. I wouldn’t have hired her otherwise.”

“Cat, you must know how hard this will be on her.” It was a female voice Kara didn’t recognize. She assumed it was a new member of the board. “People will assume she’s slept her way to the top.”

Cat turned to look at Kara and raised an eyebrow in question, indicating she knew the younger woman was listening in. “I know that,” she confirmed and tilted her head as if to ask the other woman if she was aware of that. Kara frowned but nodded. She knew it wasn’t going to be easy. “She’s also aware of this particularly obnoxious obstacle.”

“Your reputation is Catco’s reputation,” another male voice commented in warning. Kara recognized him as an old standing board member. “If you start to come off as some playgirl living through a midlife crisis, it could hurt our stock prices. Your stability is our stability.”

“Yes, because Wayne Enterprise stock drops every time Bruce has a thing of the week hanging from his arm.” Cat sighed heavily. They were right. “It may dip, but Catco is a solid brand with solid products. I’m not the Queen of all Media without reason. In a month’s time, Kara will be old news and someone else will be hogging the social pages. Maybe we’ll get lucky and Bieber will start dating Taylor Swift.”

“Can… can you make that happen?” The hesitant question was from a younger female board member. Kara snickered, but Cat looked thoughtful.

“I’m sure phone calls can be made.” She brushed the younger woman’s unspoken protests away with a wave of her free hand. “My contract states I have to inform you of potential situations that may arise from who I date. It doesn’t state that I need your blessing, so do consider yourselves informed. Good?”

“No, but we will see how this all plays out, Cat.” Jack cleared his throat and sighed. “I sincerely hope you know what you’re doing.”

“Please, Jack, when do I _not_ know what I’m doing?” Cat huffed. “I have work to do. Bruce Wayne is holding a charity thing tomorrow night here in town, and I’m going. I assume you all are as well, yes?”

There was muffled shifting and shuffling. Someone coughed heavily. “Oh, the… uh… the Wayne charity _thing_? Yes,” Jack sounded anything but confident, “of course we’re going. We wouldn’t miss it.”

“Great. I’m sure you’ve already answered his invitation. I’ll admit I was late seeing the email he sent out. It was a bit last minute, but you know how Bruce is. All playboy with only a little responsibility thrown in for show.” Cat smirked devishly. “I’ll see you all tomorrow night.”

She ended the call and tossed the phone onto the counter top. “Bruce owes me one for that.”

“Cat, I can’t believe all of this just happened.” Kara slowly shook her head. “How… how hard will it be for me to be Supergirl _and_ Cat Grant’s girlfriend?”

“I have no idea.” Cat shrugged. “The last I checked, you were Kara Danvers. Has that changed?”

The younger woman narrowed her eyes in confusion. “No?”

“No? Well, good, I’d hate to know I was in a partnership with someone whose identity kept changing.” Flipping her laptop closed, Cat stood up and started to the bedroom. “Come on, you need to get dressed. You and I have to go shopping for something to wear tomorrow night. I refuse to be caught wearing something I’ve already been photographed in, and you are _not_ wearing a cardigan.”

Kara rolled her eyes. “I have dresses, you know. You’ve seen them.”

“Yes, which is why we need to go shopping,” Cat called over her shoulder as she ascended the steps. “We don’t have all day, Kara. Chop! Chop!”

The younger woman groaned. Her life was quickly spiraling away from her, and she wasn’t sure if she was happy or terrified about it. Possibly both?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews feed a fanfic writer's soul. Just sayin'... (Kudos are also awesome.)


	14. Growing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat and Kara get ready for the Wayne Charity event, and Kara remembers her promise to Winn to hang out.

“Oh no,” Kara wiped a hand down her face as she leaned into the backseat of the sedan swiftly carrying her and Cat to Niemen’s. “It’s _Saturday_.”

“All day,” the other woman deadpanned as she continued to nonchalantly flip through her phone. “Is that a problem?”

“Yes. I mean, no, but yes.” The younger woman sighed and then groaned. “Kind of. I promised Winn that we’d have a board game night tonight because I’ve been sort of pushing him and James off to the side since,” she shot Cat a guilty look as she quietly finished, “I started dating you.”

“I see.” The older blonde didn’t bother looking up and, instead, flicked a little more aggressively through her messages. “I assume that means you’re going back to that tin box you consider an apartment?”

“Okay, first of all, that ‘tin box’ is _not_ a tin box. It’s a cute little studio and what I can afford based on the salary _your_ company pays me.” Kara huffed, crossing her arms and turning in the seat to give Cat a hard look. “Which, I mean, my pay is _fine._ It _could_ be better, but that’s not the point. The point is that it’s not fair for you to insult things in my life just because you don’t like that they take me away from you. I have friends, Cat. I have a life outside of this.” She motioned between them. “I _like_ this.” She motioned again. “But I also like my friends, and I do miss them. It’s been a long couple of weeks, and I need a break.”

“A break?” Cat jerked her phone down and pulled her glasses off, a fierce and displeased look contorting her face. “A break from _what_ , exactly, Kara? From _me_?”

“What?!” The younger woman’s face fell from angry to aghast in a split second’s time. “No! No, of course not. That’s not what I’m saying at all.” She held her hands up, fingers spread as she tried to quickly organize her thoughts. “I know what you’re doing. I’ve seen you do it before with other people. You’re picking a fight because you don’t like something that’s going to happen, and it’s easier for us to be apart for a little bit if we’re mad with each other, but I don’t want to be mad at you, Cat.”

Kara reached out to gently place her hand on the other woman’s cheek, lightly swiping her thumb over one of the high cheek bones she loved so much. “I care about you, a lot, and it’s not that I don’t want to spend time with you, but I also don’t want to lose myself, and I doubt you want that either.” She allowed her hand to rest at the base of Cat’s neck and breathed a small relived sigh when the older blonde didn’t push her away. “We’re stronger together if don’t forget who we are individually. I may not know much about… um… well, sex,” she hissed the last word and tried to ignore the instant blush that burned her face, “but I do understand relationships. At least, I’ve seen some really strong ones, and none of them ever lasted because one of the people forgot who they were.”

She sighed and pulled her hand away, discouraged by the complete lack of reaction from the other woman. “I don’t know,” she began to mumble as she pulled into herself and moved further toward the car door on her side of the backseat. “I guess I’m not making sense. I’m sorry, Cat. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I could always reschedule with Winn and James.”

“How many times do I have to tell you that you apologize too much?” Cat dropped her glasses and phone into her handbag and pushed it against the door on her side as she seemed to force herself to move closer to the younger woman. “Don’t apologize when you know you’re right, and,” she rolled her eyes and winced a little, “you _are_ right, Kara. Don’t make me say that again. You know how much I hate to admit when I’m less than correct.”

Kara chuckled but her posture relaxed into something closer to normal. “You mean wrong?”

“Yes, exactly what you said,” the older blonde replied with a smirk. “It’s going to take me some time to adjust to the fact that I’m not 100 percent in control of everything. Work with me?”

“Yes, of course.” The younger woman’s smile beamed as she leaned closer to Cat. “So you’re not mad at me?”

“No, I’m still mad at you, but I recognized it’s unjustified. I’ll get over it.” Cat shrugged.

Kara sighed. “I guess that’s a start?”

“Yes.” With a small grunt, the older woman leaned closer but still just a hair too far to be in Kara’s personal space. “We have a good twenty minutes left until we’re at Niemen’s. Are you planning to waste that time by continuing to argue, or were you planning at some point to make a move?”

“Make a move?” The younger blonde squinted her eyes and tilted her head in confusion. “A move to where?”

Cat let out an exasperated sound. “Tell me how you could have been on this planet for as long as you have yet still managed to not pick up so many common vernacular phrases?”

“Common vernacular phrases?” Kara repeated the last part of the question to herself a few times, each sentence a bit slower than the next. “Common. Vernacular. Phrases…” Her eyes grew large and mouth dropped into an ‘o.’ “Oh!” She turned to look directly at Cat, as a smile started to spread across her face. “Oh!” She repeated it again, this time with a coloring of full understanding tinging the tone of her voice. “We can do that? I mean, of course we _can_ do that, but I mean we can that _in here_?” She gestured around them. “It’s okay to… um… to…”

“Kiss me? Yes, but, if you keep that up, I might change my mind,” Cat cut in with a chuckle. Reaching out, she grabbed the front of the younger woman’s shirt and pulled it forward.

Kara allowed herself to be led, grinning wider as she slid a hand up the older woman’s shoulder, around the back of her neck, and into her hair while she closed the gap and happily kissed Cat.

Their touches were chaste as they languidly enjoyed the feel and taste of each kiss. Cat pushed her free hand up and under the back of Kara’s shirt, enjoying the blissful little surprised sound that issued from the younger woman as she began to gently scratch up and down Kara’s lower back.

Kara allowed the hand not tangled in Cat’s hair to rest on the older woman’s chest. Her hand moved on its own lower and lower with each kiss until it ended directly on top of Cat’s heart. Through her heightened sense of touch, she could feel the rapid beat in her finger tips and taste it with each kiss.

Their bodies, though restricted by seatbelts, moved as best they could against each other, and the chasteness of the first few touches washed away to be replaced with a needy, aggressive undercurrent that stole their breath and shook their resolve.

Cat’s yelp of pain pulled Kara from her haze, and she reeled away from the other woman, pushing as far as possible to the other side of the seat. Fear colored her face a moment before. “Oh god, Cat.” Her voice shook with uncontrolled panic. “Are you okay? Where did I hurt you?”

“I’m fine,” Cat replied with a wince. She rubbed at the spot Kara’s hand had been on her chest. “Your grip was just a little too tight for a moment.”

Kara shook her head. “This was a bad idea. I shouldn’t even touch you until we can make sure I _can’t_ hurt you.”

“It wouldn’t matter.” Carefully, Cat pulled the top of her blouse down until she could see the area where she felt tinder. “Even if you couldn’t hurt me the way you think, there are other ways to hurt a person.” She frowned at the rapidly growing bruise on her cleavage line. “Well, no revealing dresses for me tomorrow,” she muttered disappointedly.

“I am so sorry, Cat. If there is anything I can do…”

“Stop apologizing, Kara.” Cat looked up from her bruise to the other woman and then back down. Raising an eyebrow in disbelief, she looked again at the younger woman. “I have my shirt pulled down past my bra, and the only thing you’re worried about is a little bruise?” She snorted. “I really thought my breasts would be more distracting than that.”

Kara blinked and then looked down to see that, in fact, Cat’s bra was a deep blue. She blushed again, but her eyes refused to look up. Even with the blossoming bruise, it was an intensely and suddenly arousing sight. “That’s… that’s an amazing color on you.”

“You think so?” A knowing smirk snuck along Cat’s lips. “You should see the matching panties.”

“I really want to,” Kara lightly breathed out absentmindedly as her eyes traced every contour on show for her.

“Well,” the older woman pulled the word out as she gave her breasts a little shake before readjusting her blouse to once again cover them, “it would seem they haven’t lost their touch after all. Thank you. I was about to have my ego slightly deflated.”

“What?” The younger blonde’s eyes snapped up to find Cat watching her in amusement. “Uh... yeah, no. No problems there. I mean, with those. I mean… what I’m trying to say is you’re _very_ , _very_ attractive, Cat.”

“I know.” The older woman turned in her seat and glanced out the window to find the car pulling up to the curb of the department store. “And, if you’re lucky, you might just get to see those matching panties here in about an hour or so. After all,” she dryly commented as the doorman opened the car’s door, “we’re sharing a changing area.”

Kara whimpered. What kind of insane, beautiful torture had she managed to get herself into? Maybe she’d get lucky and the DEO would call, or maybe she’d get lucky and they wouldn’t?

Clearing her throat, she awkwardly tumbled from the back of the car and tried to right her balance before taking off at a brisk pace to catch up with Cat as she prayed that they would find some relief from the tension before one of them exploded.

* * *

 

“I thought you forgot!” Winn held a board game in one hand and a pizza in the other.

“What? Me? No!” Kara made a pffft sound and awkwardly shifted to the side to let him and the rest of the crew into her apartment. “Never!”

“She _totally_ forgot,” James chuckled as he made his way over to the kitchen island to set down the pizza boxes in his hand.

“Oh yeah, definitely,” Alex agreed with a mischievous grin. “Must have been distracted by something,” she added as she closed the door and locked it.

“Or _someone_ ,” James added with a wink.

“Okay, all of you suck,” Kara cut in with a huff. At the faux hurt look on Winn’s face, she added with less petulance in her voice, “Except for Winn.”

“Thank you,” he triumphantly replied. “And, for recognizing _I_ don’t suck, I’m willing to introduce you to a new board game. It’s called,” he made presentation sounds and held the box out display style, “Red Dragon Inn!”

“I thought we were playing Settlers?” James flipped a box open and grabbed a slice with one hand while he dug around in the cabinets. “Also, where are the plates? Have you already broken the ones we bought last month?”

“They’re in the dishwasher.” Kara glared at him before moving to help Winn set up. “So, are you going to tell us about this game?”

As Winn explained the rules, the group picked up food and drinks before settling at the folding table. “Okay, got it?” He began passing out game pieces.

“So we’re adventurers who’ve returned victorious, and now we’re going to waste away all the loot we got from dungeon crawling on booze and gambling?” Alex raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips. “And the person who manages to not pass out or lose all their money last wins?”

“Yeah, you got it,” Winn replied with a grin. “I think you should be the beat stick.”

“Does she at least get a cool sword?” The older Danvers sister took the offered deck of cards and began shuffling through them to see what possible options she might get in a round. “Or more than a chainmail bikini?”

“What? That’s just one card! She’s fully clothed in full metal armor in the rest,” Winn protested. “Kara, would you like to be the healer, the magic user, or the rouge?” He waited for a beat before waving his hand in front of her face. “Hello? Where did you fly off to?”

“Oh, sorry.” She frowned and glanced around apologetically. “I guess I did kind of space. Um… the healer, I guess?”

“You guess?” James narrowed his eyes and tilted his head a touch as he looked her over. “What happened before we got here?”

Kara shrugged. “Nothing?”

“Something,” he corrected. “Look, if you didn’t want us to come over, we would understand. I mean, even superheroes need alone time. If we need to go…” He trailed off, allowing everyone to give a silent, though disappointed, nod in agreement.

“No, it’s not that.” She sighed and leaned heavily back in her chair, wincing as she heard it crack ever so slightly. “It’s just…” With a grunt and a huff, she crossed her arms and pulled into herself as if that would make what she was thinking easier to say aloud. “Cat and I had our first disagreement as a couple, and it wasn’t even a disagreement. It was just Cat being Cat, and now I’m worried about her.”

“Seriously?” Winn grabbed the rouge’s deck and started shuffling. “She gets in fights with people all the time. I doubt a little kerfuffle with you is going to break her.”

“Those are different,” she countered, an annoyed look flashing across her face. “She’s fighting for Catco or her personal brand or something she really believes in. But this was more she was hurt because… well…” Kara threw a hand up and motioned around. “Because she’s not here.”

“No offence, but I don’t think she’d like this kind of thing,” James replied while shuffling the magic user’s deck. “She’s never struck me as the pizza and board game kind of person, especially if she’s doing it with people like us.”

“I _am_ people like us, and she has pizza and plays board games with me and Carter.” She shook her head. “I know she’ll be fine. She’s sort of used to being the odd man out. I just… I don’t know. I miss her, I guess?” Kara shrugged a shoulder before shuffling her deck.

“Well, we won’t be here all night,” Alex offered in a soft voice. “You can go back to her afterwards, can’t you?”

“Kara, come on. You just saw her! I mean, I’m sure you can go a twelve hour period without sle…”

“If you say what I think you’re about to,” Alex cut into Winn’s comment, “I’m telling you now to not.”

He grimaced and shifted backward a little from the table. “Look, I don’t understand why we can’t just hang out together and have a nice evening without bringing Cat into it. I mean, yeah, I get it. She’s Kara’s _girlfriend_ , but does she have to be involved in _everything_? Doesn’t Kara get some things to herself still?”

“Of course I do. Why do you think I’m here with you instead of at Cat’s place?” Kara put her cards down. “Winn, you have to let this go. I thought we were friends. I’ve made it really clear that I’m just not into you like that, and I’m sorry that it hurt you, but I can’t change how I feel.” She stood up to walk to the kitchen and away from the group. “Maybe this was a bad idea?”

“No, this was a great idea,” James replied as he glared at the other guy in the room, “right up until Winn made an ass of himself.”

“I’m sorry, Kara.” Winn started to stand, but Alex’s hand on his shoulder kept him planted. Instead, he tried to look and sound as apologetic as he could under the circumstances. “I’m not jealous.” At the questioning looks he held his hands up in innocence. “I’m not! It’s just that Cat scares the crap out of me, okay? She’s my _boss_. I mean, she’s everyone’s boss here but Alex’s, and it’s weird to socialize on the same level with your boss. I’m glad she makes you happy, Kara, but I’d have no idea what I’m supposed to do if she was here hanging out. It’s be like standing in front of a group of people and wearing pants without pockets. Where do you put your hands? It’s awkward, okay?”

“Yeah, no, I get it.” Kara took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Look, let’s just…” She straightened her posture and grabbed a slice of pizza before going back to the table, “play this game in which I’m,” she plopped down and picked up one of the healer’s cards to really look at it, “a woman with huge breasts.” She dropped the card back to the table. “Really, Winn?”

“What?” He smirked. “Her goddess protects her.”

“Clearly,” Kara replied with a roll of her eyes. “Look, seriously, before we act like everything is fine, which it _is_ , but… guys, Cat _is_ a part of my personal life now, just like I’m a part of hers. Eventually, there’s going to have to be a truce. You _do_ know that, don’t you?”

“I have no problem with Cat.” James shifted in his seat to glance at Winn again. “She doesn’t scare me, never has. Now, if she _hurts_ you…”

“Then she’ll have to deal with me,” Alex stepped in with a fierce look that left no question of how serious she was. “No one hurts my baby sister.”

“I mean, yeah, I think it’s safe to say we all _do_ know that.” Winn pulled up the cards in the rouge’s deck and scrunched his nose up at his hand.

James flipped through the cards he’d pulled from his deck and scowled. “We’ll all get there, but some of us are going to need baby steps, okay? Maybe we can do a dinner some place neutral?”

“Or maybe we can do a dinner here or at my place.” Alex shifted the cards in her hand around and seemed to consider one for a bit longer than it probably warranted. “Home turf advantage.”

“Maybe.” Kara seemed to think on it as she looked at the cards in her hand. “You’re right, Winn,” she said with a smirk, “her goddess really _does_ protect her.”

“See? I told you,” he said as he laid down the first card of the game. “Gambling? I’m in!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks everyone for the reviews! Also, thanks for sticking around. I realize it takes me forever to update this.


	15. Surprises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat and Kara walk the red carpet for Wayne's charity event. Kara holds her own... sort of.

Kara looked at herself in the full length mirror. Cat’s _Vogue Magazine_ -esque bedroom provided a stunning backdrop to the evening gown that she still had trouble accepting the price of. Despite the expense, she had to admit that it _was_ stunning. Cat, as always, had an amazing eye.

Full length with a slit on the side and in a deep green, the strapless column style gown fit her frame perfectly. The bodice was embroidered with a darker, slightly shiner green that danced around her waist in twisting vines and leaves, and the skirt was smooth, falling just above the start of the back of her matching green heels. The slit had a design surrounding it matching the bodice, and the whole outfit was pulled together with a silver necklace holding a deep green emerald pendant which matched her earrings.

Cat had called in her favorite hair stylist and makeup artist, who had done both of their looks for the evening. Kara’s makeup was evening appropriate with just a hint of the same green from her dress reflected in her eyeshadow. She had to admit that the look made her blue eyes dramatic.

The stylist had dumped her preferred ponytail for a classic 1940s peek-a-boo style in which her slightly curled hair cascaded over the left side of her face and down her shoulder from a deep side part on the right side of her head. She almost looked like a movie star from the golden era.

She barely recognized herself.

“Here, put this on.” Cat interrupted Kara’s musings by handing her a silver watch that matched the rest of her jewelry ensemble, forcing the younger woman to look at the hand between her and the mirror and breaking the weird trance she had over herself. “Also, I bought these because I think these frames will look much better with that outfit than your normal ones.” As Kara put the watch on, a hand with a pair of silver, wire rimmed glasses appeared in front of her. “It’s just regular glass. Will that be an issue?”

“No,” Kara quietly answered as she looked up to slide the glasses on, careful of her makeup and hair. “They look perfect for this.”

“ _You_ look perfect, but you normally do, in spite of those horrid cardigans you insist on wearing,” Cat replied as she stepped into the mirror’s view. “What do you think?”

“I think,” the younger blonde’s breath caught as she ran her eyes over the other woman’s reflection, “Wow.”

Cat laugh quietly. “Wow? That’s all you’ve got?”

“Give me a second. I thought you bought that black dress. I didn’t realize you’d gone with the suit.” Kara turned around to really look at the other woman.

Cat looked as though she’d stepped into Marlene Dietrich’s closet and stepped out transformed. The perfectly tailored black tuxedo wrapped around the petite’s woman’s frame, highlighting the breasts Kara could still picture uncovered in her mind’s eye. The classic button-down waistcoat and the handkerchief just peeking out of the front pocket of the jacket perfectly matched Kara’s gown, and she could see that the older woman had cufflinks that matched the jewelry Kara had on.

With her hair slicked back into a French twist and her makeup light but just dark enough to convey this was an evening event they were about to attend, Cat was stunning.

Kara cleared her throat a few times and swallowed down the lump. “No shoes?” She managed to sound far more composed than she actually felt.

“Black boots.” Cat pointed toward the bed where the shoes were sitting on the ground. “Chunky heel and tall enough that you and I are a match height.”

“So, stilts, then?” The younger woman mischievously grinned.

“I’m going to choose to ignore that for right now,” Cat replied with a fake sneer. “How do you feel? Is it a good fit? Everything was so last minute that I was afraid the tailors would screw something up.”

“I feel… well, to be honest, I feel a little disoriented.” Kara moved to the vanity to take a seat as she watched the other woman walk to the bed to put on her boots. “This is all a little much. I’m not used to this kind of pomp, you know?”

“Really?” The petite woman grunted as she slid one boot on. “I assumed that you’d be used to it by now. You’ve been my assistant long enough.”

“Yeah, your _assistant_ , not your plus one. This is _really_ different. I mean, as your assistant, no one pays any attention to me unless I’m telling them about something you need, _and_ I’m normally in my cardigans. As your plus one?” The younger woman glanced down at herself and held her arms out a little from her sides. “This time, they’re going to notice me.”

“They better. Anyone who doesn’t is either blind of too dense to live,” Cat replied as she huffed through putting on the other boot. “It will be fine. You already know all the players in this thing we’re about to attend, and you have an advantage, Kara. You know the behind-the-scenes workings of these events better than anyone you’ll encounter tonight. That should help you, just in case you need it.”

Standing, Cat shifted her weight back and forth to settle into her shoes and get a feel for her new height. “I firmly believe there is absolutely nothing you can’t do if you decide it’s what you want. You’re intelligent, creative, and breathtakingly beautiful. No matter from what direction you attack tonight, you can’t lose, unless you decide that you can’t win.”

Kara stood and walked to the full-length mirror again, smiling when the other woman stepped into view. “If I can stop a bullet with my bare hands,” she said as she straightened her spine and squared her shoulders, “I can handle the paparazzi and a few high level board executives.”

“Even if you _couldn’t_ stop a bullet with your bare hands, you could handle both of those things.” Cat reached up to run her hand down the younger woman’s exposed back, smirking at the visible shiver she received in response. “You’re sunshine, Kara. Nothing can take away your intensity unless you allow it. I’ve seen the world try time and again, and it always fails. You can do this.”

Kara’s smile began to beam. “Eleanor Roosevelt?”

Cat chuckled. “Yes, exactly. Now, are you ready? The car should be waiting for us downstairs by now.”

“I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready for this, but I’m going to try.” Moving to the vanity, she picked up the clutch that perfectly matched her outfit and opened it to double check she had everything they would need for the night. “Do you want me to carry your phone?”

“Yes.” The older blonde waited at the bedroom door with her phone held out. “Come on, Sunshine. Stop delaying. This is one night in which I do _not_ want to be fashionably late.”

“Right.” Kara grabbed the offered phone and dropped into the clutch, closing it with a finalizing sounding click. “Let’s do this, then.”

Cat nodded, a hint of pride in her eyes. “Good.”

* * *

 

The car pulled up to a literal red carpet with photographers crowding one side of a red velvet rope lining the walkway and a backdrop along the opposite side to give the celebrity studded event the perfect setting for whatever designer each high profile person was wearing for the night. Already, there were several well-known and influential people walking past the cameras. Kara spotted a few who had stopped to give a quick interview, and, much to her relief, she was able to catch a few friendly faces in the shadows.

Internally, she yearned to be with the other assistants. Everything inside of her screamed this was going to end poorly. It was too soon. There were too many unknown factors, and she wasn’t fully convinced that she _could_ do this, though she was trying to keep her mindset in the positive.

Someone opened the car’s door, and she watched as Cat stepped out with a confident air and turned to offer her hand. “Remember,” she said with a gentle, reassuring smile, “Sunshine.”

Kara nodded and took the hand, scooting to the edge of the backseat and stepping into a surge of noise and flashing lights. For a brief second, she was overwhelmed with the sensations, her superpowers short-circuiting into a buzz of confusion and disorientation.

Cat’s hand on her lower back steadied her, and she began to focus. She quickly glanced over to make eye contact with the older woman, who suddenly looked concerned. “I’m okay. I just had to adjust the level of things.”

With a nod, Cat began to walk them down the red carpet. “Remember to smile, and try to look less like you’re a deer caught in headlights,” she said under her breath so quietly _only_ Kara could possibly hear her.

The younger woman took in a deep breath and released it slowly as they strolled arm-in-arm into the center circle of the long walk into the building and stopped. This was where the celebrities were expected to hold their quick photoshoots and shout out a few answers to the dozens of questions being thrown at them. Kara was all too familiar with the routine. She’d helped Cat double check her outfits too many times to count before the older woman walked into this circle, but, up until now, Cat had always been alone.

Cat Gran stopped having plus ones for events after her divorce. It had been years since she had brought along anyone, and the press immediately noticed that, this time, Cat had arm candy.

“Cat!” Kara heard a shout she recognized as a reporter for _E!_. “Who is your date?”

With a sharp bite to her voice, Cat called back through a well-crafted smile, “I assure you she can speak for herself, can’t you, Sunshine?”

Kara recognized the pet name for what it was, a reminder. She could do this. “Yes, I can,” she replied through her own well-crafted smile. “My name is Kara Danvers.”

“Ms. Grant!” Through the sound of camera shutters clicking away trying to find the perfect picture of the new couple, Kara recognized the voice as a reported for _US Weekly_. “Where did you two meet?”

The older woman’s gripped tightened on Kara’s waist. “She’s my assistant,” Cat cordially replied, though there was an undercurrent of tension in the answer.

An audible, scandalized gasp rushed from the cadre of reports, and the sounds of clicking from the cameras increased. Kara tried not to visibly wince. “Kara!” She jumped a little at hearing her name shouted from the reporters’ line. “What’s it like to ‘assist’ Cat Grant?”

The innuendo was unmistakable, and the chuckles from the reporters confirmed the suggestion behind the question. It was a challenge. This would determine the narrative set forth about her. She could either control it or be controlled by it. If she’d learn anything from Cat’s tutelage, it was that it is best to always control your brand, and she wasn’t about to allow the rouges’ gallery in front of her to turn her into a tramp or Cat into some sort of disrespectable cougar.  

“Who said that?” She stepped a bit closer to the line, pulling away from Cat who remained, and squinted to look at the faces on the other side. “Was that John Kingston?” She knew that voice. He always seemed to try to pry scandalous information from Kara whenever Cat was walking the red carpet, as if her being Cat’s assistant meant she would be willing to be his secret source to Cat’s less-than-positive happenings. She never helped him, of course. Kara had mentally named him ‘scum slug’ months ago and written him off as sleazy and a yellow journalist not worth her time or attentions.

“Sure was!” The man in question pushed through to the rope. “So?” He said as he held his recorder out toward her and shot her a slimy grin. “ _How_ is it? Challenging? Is she… _dominating_?”

Kara’s face fell into an almost predatory look, one she’d seen on Cat’s face hundreds of times, and her eyes narrowed just a bit in challenge. “Why are you asking? Is it because you can’t get anyone to _assist_ you these days? Do you need some advice on how get a helping hand, John?”

Without missing a beat or dropping his slick smile, he replied, “No, I’m good, thanks. I don’t have to pay to play or play to get paid.”

The masses of people behind the rope quietened down, and Kara could hear Cat suck in a deep breath of air. “Oh, John,” Kara replied, her voice firm yet mocking in its sickly sweetness, and her smile turning into a contemptuous sneer, “it doesn’t take a reporter to know Cat doesn’t need to pay for anything she wants, but you would know that if you were a real reporter and not just a has been with a blog.”

Someone coughed. Another person mumbled ‘burn’ under their breath. Cat chuckled. “Besides,” Kara added as she leaned over just a touch, smirking when she heard shutters going off to catch her exposed cleavage line, “I think it’s pretty clear that _I_ don’t have do anything to get attention, either, unlike _some_ of us, who need to throw out antiquated and suggestive ideas of how the world works in order to be relevant.” She straightened and gave a bright smile that spoke of her no-fucks-to-give attitude about his crudeness. “What a sad world you must live in, Mr. Kingston.” She raised an eyebrow, shrugged as if to brush off the whole conversation, and stepped next to Cat to run her arm through the one offered by the other woman.

“Well, that was exciting,” Cat quietly commented with pride as she turned to give the press a proud smirk and then walk them toward the entrance.

“I think I might pass out if we don’t get out of this soon,” Kara stated in between quick, terrified breaths. “I can’t _believe_ I just did that.”

“Hold your head up high until we get in,” the older woman advised as they casually strolled the rest of the red carpet, ignoring the calls from reporters. “Never let them see that any of this bothered you. Remember, they prey upon perceived weakness.”

Kara stiffly nodded but somehow managed to keep her composure until they walked into the building and out of sight of the cameras. “I need to go to the ladies’ room,” she muttered before taking off for the bathroom and hoping she could keep herself together until she arrive.

Cat followed, concern coloring her features. Of call the possibilities she’d considered might take place tonight, Kara ending up sick in the women’s room wasn’t even on the list. Of course, she also hadn’t thought the younger woman would take on the press like she had either.

Life was never predicable, but, with Kara, it would seem life might end up being even more chaotic, which Cat wasn’t opposed to. She did make a mental note to bring an assistant with them when they attended events together. Clearly, Kara was going to need a handler.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... that went well, kind of...


	16. Wonder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara meets a legend at the Wayne charity event, and Batman fulfills his promise to give her a piece of kryptonite.

Kara pushed through the women’s room door and glanced around to find herself in a small, three stall restroom with three sinks opposite the stall, a very small bench on one wall, and two women already occupying the area. One woman she recognized as a popular actress from an equally popular television show. Her mind was drawing a blank; it something about fairytales or something.

The other woman was familiar but enough to really register who she was, but the annoyed look she threw Kara in the mirror bespoke of someone who wasn’t in the mood to deal with drama.

Trying very hard to keep herself composed, Kara walked to the small bench and took a seat, careful of her dress. She wanted to bend into the fetal position and panic, but she realized that would likely be the worst possible life choice at the moment. Her next thought was a quick escape. She was faster than a bullet and could fly, but Cat would probably kill her if she abandoned the other woman like that.

What had she been thinking? Where on earth had that amount of bravery and sass come from? That wasn’t her. That was something gutsy Cat Grant would do, not mild mannered Kara Danvers. It didn’t make any sense, but, at that moment in time, it’d seemed like the most logical thing in the world. You see a challenge to your brand and to a person you truly care about, she’d reasoned mentally in the moment, and you do something to slap down the threat before it became more than an annoying fly buzzing around.

She shook her head. It was like she’d been channeling Cat. It was weird and unsettling, but, she admitted as she calmed down, it had been empowering to see the look on Kingston’s face. In fact, it’d felt amazing to see him shirk back into the crowd as she walked off like nothing could touch her. That feeling, too, was more Cat than her, she thought with a deep breath.

Maybe the older woman was influencing her more than she realized these days?

“Your dress is _gorgeous_ ,” the actress said as she turned from the mirror after touching up her makeup. “Where did you get it?”

“Oh, uh, thank you,” Kara managed to stammer out. “Actually, it was a gift.”

“Well,” the dark haired brunette said with genuine smile, “whoever gave it to you has amazing taste.”

Kara nodded and managed a small smile. “Yeah, she does. Cat always seems to know what will look amazing on a person.”

“Cat?” The other woman at the mirror turned around and looked down at still seated blonde. “Cat Grant?”

Internal alarms went off. Kara should know this redhead. There was something about her, but she still couldn’t place her. “Yes,” she cautiously replied. “I’m sorry. Do we know each other?”

“I hardly doubt it,” came the arrogant reply. “I would certainly remember someone who looked as runway perfect as you do, and I do _not_ remember you, and you would _definitely_ remember me.” She cocked her head to the side and tilted her chin up just a touch. “Pamela Clarkson.”

Kara mentally rolled her eyes. She knew Pamela, and they’d met dozens of times. Pamela was a well-known fashion critique who frequented Catco during the major fashion weeks to give Cat her thoughts on whatever was being sent down the runways that year. “Ah, yes, Ms. Clarkson, it’s…”

“An honor to meet me.” The critique smirked. “I know.”

Kara sighed heavily and turned to the other woman. “I’m so sorry. I recognize your face, but I just can’t think of your name.”

The brunette gave a reassuring shrug. “That’s okay. It happens to everyone sometimes! My name is La…”

“Kara!” Cat burst through the door, stepping into the tiny room with the air of a woman on a mission. “The next time you decide to go into hiding after justifiably putting someone in their place, at least wait for me.” She moved to sit next to the younger blonde, completely ignoring the other women in the room. “Are you okay?”

“Getting there.” Kara gave a weak smile. “I don’t know what happened. It’s like I was you for a minute.”

Cat narrowed her eyes, considering that idea for a split second. “Something to worry about later, maybe?”

“Probably,” the other woman said through a sigh. “We should go find our table.”

“Cat, are you at least going to acknowledge me?” Pamela crossed her arms and glared at the couple. “Your plaything can wait a moment while you say hello.”

The older blonde glared at the redhead but stopped short of the typical sass filled comment that would have been her response. Instead, she stared a hard line at the redhead until the room had an uncomfortable atmosphere as her eyes glazed over with everything she wanted to say.

“Cat,” Kara pleaded under her breath. “Please.”

Cat snorted derisively. “Fine.” She turned to the brunette and gave a more cordial nod of greeting. “Hello, Lana. It’s a pleasure as always.”

“Hi, Cat, and, on that note, I think I’m just going to take off. It was, uh… interesting meeting you…?” She shook her head in question at the younger blonde.

“Kara, and sorry it was under… um… odd circumstances. I really like your show,” she shifted to stand with Cat following, keeping a protective hand at her back.

“Aww, thank you. That’s very sweet of you to say. I’m glad you enjoy it,” Lana shot back, smile beaming.

“Oh my God, could you all get your pleasantries out of the way so that we can _all_ get back to our tables? The saccharine sweet air in here is going to make me vomit,” Pamela commented with a groan. Turning to Cat, she added with accusation, “I thought you were better than this PG nonsense. Has dating your daughter made you soft?”

“If we weren’t at a charity event,” Cat’s voiced lowered into an aggressive growl, “I would end you here and now, but I’m not going to make a scene some place we should be focusing on supporting children instead of boosting our egos.”

“Oh my dear Catherine,” the redhead said with a derisive laugh, “she _has_ made you soft. Since when is it _not_ a good time to boost Cat Grant’s ego? Christ, I can’t _wait_ to tell the girls about how the Queen of all Media has been tamed by a _child_.”

Cat’s jaw tensed and untensed for a few long seconds while the women watched and waited. Finally, the older blonde seemed to find whatever thread of control she was searching for and eased into a less agitated pose, loosening her shoulders and allowing the faintest of smiles to grace her lips. “Pamela, just because you lost your ability to attract a companion who doesn’t cost you by the hour doesn’t mean you get to take your frustrations out on me. _I_ can’t help it if the plastic surgeon botched your last lypo. Maybe you should consider suing? Seeing his infamous handy work up close, I can tell that you _must_ look like a deformed and dehydrated _husk_ of human underneath that three thousand dollar gown. Pity, it’s true what they say about pearls on a swine, but,” Cat leaned in as if she were sharing the best bit of gossip, “it’s cute that you tried.”

Pamela laughed. “There she is. I was beginning to worry. See you during fashion week, Cat.” With a conceited smile on her face and too much sway in her hips, she pushed through the small group of women and out the door.

Cat turned to Kara with a scowl that said she was deeply displeased. “We are _definitely_ talking about whatever the hell is going on with both of us when we get home.”

“Yeah,” Kara said with unease coloring her tone, “I figured that would be the case.”

* * *

 

“So, Kara, how long have you been a reporter?” Bruce Wayne gave her a dazzling smile, and everyone at the table pivoted to face her.

Kara had attempted to maintain a low profile once the dinner began. She had been only a little surprised to find she and Cat were seated at the same table with Bruce Wayne and his date of the evening along with Oliver Quinn and his date, Dinah Lance. She didn’t know much about the blonde haired power couple, but they seemed an unlikely presence at such a posh event. Oliver looked uncomfortable, and Dinah looked bored.

“Oh, Mr. Wayne…” she began in a meek voice, praying this would all be over soon.

Bruce’s smile turned into a debonair smirk. “Bruce, please.”

“Oh, right. Um, Bruce.” She glanced at Cat, who had started to seethe. Clearly, Bruce Wayne hadn’t taken her warning about Kara being hers to heart. “I… I’m not,” she took in a deep breath to stop the nervous stutter. Why was she here? This was a terrible idea. “I’m not a reporter.”

“No?” He looked genuinely surprised, which made her want to roll her eyes. Batman, master of all types of martial arts as well as the art of deception. “Well, what _do_ you do? You must be amazing at whatever it is you do in order to snag the great Cat Grant. She only settles for perfection.”

Here it was. The moment that just kept popping up. She awkwardly cleared her voice. “Oh, I’m not, uh, I’m not sure that I’d say I’m _perfect_ ,” the words just sort of started tumbling out as her face grew redder by the second. “I just try to do my best.”

He gave a nonchalant shrug and nodded. “I’m sure it’s super,” he replied cordially before turning to her date. “Cat, did you know that Ollie here has been working on a new addition to his charity foundations?”

Cat rolled her eyes but seemed to relax. “Really? I hadn’t heard. She turned to other man at the table to give him her full attention. “What are you expanding into these days, Oliver?”

“Syria,” he said as his posture straightened up and he began to explain his next philanthropic endeavor. The conversation pulled in Dinah as well, which left Bruce, his date, and Kara all alone on their side of the table.

“Kara,” he said in still cordial but less light voice, “have you ever met my date? Diana Prince?” He leaned back just a touch so the two could make eye contact.

“Hello, Ms. Danvers. It’s an honor to meet you,” the tall, classically beautiful brunette said with a nod. “I’ve heard much about you from your cousin.”

“My cousin?” The young woman slow blinked for a second as she tried to put the puzzle pieces together. “You mean Clark?” How did this woman know Kal?

Diana nodded. “Yes, I understand he is as equally _super_ as you,” she replied with no hint of lightheartedness in her tone. This was a woman who was on a mission, and Kara couldn’t help but wonder who she really was. However, the implication based on her comment was that she was at least aware of who both she and he cousin were.

“Yeah, that’s what people say,” Kara replied with a shrug. “So do you and Bruce…uh… _work_ together?”

“Indeed.” Diana’s lips ticked up into just the barest of smirks. “We do _work_ together often, though, when we do, it’s normally a _fight_ with him around.” She leaned over and whispered just loud enough for the man between them to hear her. “You know, he can be extremely stubborn.”

“I think you two have had enough fun,” Bruce cut in, moving enough to force the two woman to sit up. His voice shifted as he spoke from Bruce Wayne to Batman. It was subtle, but it was enough to unnerve Kara. Who changed that much between who they were with the suit on versus who they were without it?

“You and Diana can share trade secrets later.” His voice lowered enough for the light din of conversation around them to cover up what he was saying. “Kara, you know I’m here to give you what you’ve requested. Diana is here to help. As Bruce Wayne, it’s nearly impossible for me to easily hand off something to someone without arousing suspicion of what playboy-of-the-moment thing I may be up to, which wouldn’t do for this situation.”

“So I agreed to help.” Diana smiled gently and picked her purse up from here it sat on the table. “And don’t worry, little one, I’ve given my word that I will not share what I know of the gift Bruce is giving to you.”

Kara winced. How many people were going to know about her sex life before this was over? “Oh, um, thank you?” She shot Bruce a confused look. “So, what do we do now?”

Wayne smirked and then grinned as his voice boomed out across the table. “You women,” he said with a light chuckle. “You always have to go to the restroom in pairs! What do you girls do in there?”

“It’s a trade secret, Bruce,” Diana replied with a roll of her eyes as she stood and motioned for Kara to follow. “But, for you, I’ll share. We mostly discuss battle tactics.”

The table turned toward the sudden movement, and Dinah chuckled. “Sometimes we talk about the best non-lethal takedowns.” She also stood, motioning at Ollie to remain seated. “I think I’ll join you two, if you don’t mind?”

Kara turned to Diana who shook her head in the negative but seemed to be telling Kara with her eyes to keep Cat at the table. “Oh, um, Cat…” She had no idea what she was going to say to make this work.

“Go,” Cat replied with a dismissive wave. “You know how much I hate the bathroom female herding thing. Just be sure to make it back before dessert.”

“Right, okay, thank you.” Without thinking, the younger blonde bent down to give her date a quick peck on the cheek before turning to walk with the other two women to the restroom.

They strolled inside the tiny room in a line, and Dinah stopped at the door. “Are we clear?”

Diana checked the stalls, seemed to look around the room for something, and bent over to check beneath the sinks. “Yes, I believe so.”

“Okay, could you two tell me what is going on here?” Kara shifted awkwardly as she watched the two work.

“I’m going to watch the door,” Dinah replied, shifting to stand so that no one could open the door without it hitting her back and getting stuck.

“And I am going to give you this.” Diana opened her purse and pulled out the same small box Batman had just a few nights before. “We didn’t want this to end up in the wrong hands, so we’re taking extra precautions.”

Slowly, Kara reached forward to take the lead lined box. “Is this…?” Her words caught in her throat.

“Yes.” Diana’s smiled warmed even more. “This was the best way we could think of to make this pass off in such a short amount of time and with enough controls to satisfy Bruce’s quirks. Personally, I’d have simply met you at a coffee shop and given it to you, but I honestly think he has a flair for the dramatic, even if he doesn’t want to admit it.”

Kara stared at the box now nestled in the palm of her hand. “I’m almost afraid to open it.”

“Well, we don’t have a lot of time here, so I’d suggest you rush through that moment and check the box,” Dinah urged. “The last thing we want to do is cause a scene because we blocked the ladies’ room.”

“Okay, but, before I do, would you two tell me who you are? I mean, outside of this. I’m guessing you know who I am, and it only seems fair.” It was an audacious thing to ask, she knew, but she suddenly just _had_ to know. Cat’s influence again, she supposed.

“Black Canary,” Dinah replied with a nod. “Ollie is Green Arrow.”

“I… I know a Green Arrow, but he’s from a different Earth. I think he’s dating someone else, too.” She shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. It’s nice to meet you, and it’s cool to know there’s another Green Arrow.”

“I am known in this world as Wonder Woman,” Diana offered with the same warm smile. “And I meant what I said. It is an honor to meet you, Supergirl. The Amazons would be proud to know you as a sister.”

“You’re… _you’re_ … ohhhh… no _way_.” It took everything Kara had not to all out fan girl. “Oh my god, you’re _her_. I just…” a nervous laugh escaped. “It is _such_ an honor, and I would _love_ to visit the Amazons. I mean, not that you invited me. Oh my god, did I just invite myself? I didn’t… I mean, I would _never_ …”

“It’s alright, little one,” Diana cut in with a chuckle. “The invitation was implied, and we can certainly work something out at a later time. When we get back to the table, perhaps we can exchange phone numbers?”

“Yes!” Kara yelp at the emphatic tone in her voice. “I mean, yes, I would like that.” Taking in a deep breath, she let it out slowly as she turned her attention back to the box. “Okay, alright, I can do this.” Slowly, she reached with her free hand and flipped the tiny lever on the side. She heard a faint click, and the top fell open to reveal a stunningly cut and crafted glowing green stone set in one of the most beautiful rings Kara had ever seen. “Wow, it’s gorgeous.”

“Bruce has a good eye for beauty, despite what his usual wardrobe may indicate,” Diana replied quietly. “Do you feel different now that you’re exposed?”

“A little.” Kara slid the ring on and was delighted to find it perfectly fit the middle finger of her left hand. “I’m not sure how to safely test this, though.”

Diana nodded. “That’s why I am here tonight.” She squared her shoulders. “Hit me.”

“What?!” Kara shook her head. “I’m not going to hit Wonder Woman. Are you crazy? Why would I hit you?”

“To see if you are weaker with the ring.” Diana frowned. “We’re running out of time. Hit me.”

With a sigh, Kara nodded and pulled pack. She threw a right jab with as much force as she could, landing across Diana’s collar bone, and immediately regretted it. “Oh my god,” she pulled back, grabbing her hand with her other and rubbing it. “I think I broke my hand.”

“It works,” Dinah called out with a chuckle. “Take that ring off and put it away so you can heal, girlie. Someone’s about to try to come in.”

Through pained tears, Kara pulled the ring off and returned it to the box. The lid shut with a click, and a few seconds later her hand stopped throbbing. “Crap that hurt.”

Diana badly hid her amusement. “You are better now?”

“Yeah,” Kara slipped the box into her own purse, “and it makes me glad to be super.”

“Must be nice,” Dinah shot back as she stepped forward just in time for a woman to step in to use the facilities. “Shall we, ladies?”

“Yes, let us return.” Diana led the way, giving a cordial nod to the new occupant on their way out.

As they settled back into their seats, Kara glanced around the table. In the course of less than five minutes, everything about the people at this table had changed for her, and, she placed her purse on her lap and gripped it tightly with her left hand, in the course of just a few weeks, everything about how she assumed her life would be had changed.

Everything was terrifying and wonderful.


	17. Weakness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carter meets a legend, and Cat learns about the ring.

“When do you plan on telling me what has you so jumpy?” Cat slid into the back of the car and closed the door, releasing a long thankful sigh at finally be back inside a cocoon of privacy once more. “You know how much I don’t like being kept out of the loop, Kara.”

“Yeah, I know, but it’s not something I can talk to you about until we’re back home.” The younger woman flinched. “I mean, back at _your_ place. I just… it’s just not something that, you know, it’s just kind of a…”

Cat rolled her eyes and leaned back into her seat. “If you were anyone else, I’d push you until you told me why you’ve been acting weird since your little field trip to the restroom with Oliver’s blonde dongle and Bruce’s brunette dangle.” Slowly rolling her head around her shoulders, she pulled an annoyed face but let it quickly drop into something neutral. “But, it’s past 9:30, and I tired. Besides, I assume this has to do with your night job?”

“My night job?” Kara’s eyes narrowed in confusion for a second. “My night… oh. Oh!” Her face brightened with relief, and she nodded a little too vigorously. “Yes, it’s mostly about my ‘night job,’ or,” she squirmed uncomfortably in her seat for a moment, “it’s more like it’s about taking a… um… a night _off_ from my night job.”

The older woman’s head whipped around and her eyes focused clearly on the other woman. “What do you mean by ‘take a night off?”

“Okay, see? That’s the… the _thing_ I can’t talk to you about _right now_.” Kara attempted an inconspicuous head nod toward their driver, which made her look like she was having a small seizure.

Cat chuckled at the ridiculous scene but nodded her head. “Okay, but, when we get home, you tell me everything. Ten is Carter’s bedtime, so he should already be asleep when we get there, so no distractions.”

“Oh, yeah, about that.” The younger blonde flinched. “I can’t tell you everything because, well, it’s not really mine to tell and, you know, you’re still Cat Grant, Queen of all Media, and I don’t think… um, _people_ would appreciate me giving aware their secrets to, well, you.” She quickly held her hands up in a show of innocence. “Not that you’re not trustworthy. I’m _not_ saying that.”

“Yes, you’re _clearly_ not saying _that_ ,” Cat mocked back. Waving a hand dismissively, she turned forward again in her seat. “Fine, but you _will_ tell me the important parts.”

“Okay, yes, I can do that.” Kara was practically bouncing in her seat. “Actually, I can’t _wait_ to tell you that!”

* * *

“Mom!” Carter was wrapped around Cat’s waist before she could even process her son was awake. “I’m glad you got back before I went to go to bed.” He squeezed her a bit harder and then pulled back just enough to look up at her. “I had the _coolest_ thing happen to me tonight, and I could’t sleep because I _had_ to tell you about it!” He stepped back and pulled out his phone, flipping it on and turning it around to show her. “I met Wonder Woman!”

Cat plucked the phone from her son’s hands and pulled it up to her face to really look at the photo. Her eyes ran over a scene of Wonder Woman standing on a street near their penthouse. In one hand she had what looked like a common purse thief, and, in the other was the purse. The shot was well framed; she looked every bit the hero Cat had always thought she was.

“Carter, what happened here?” She quickly sent the picture to herself before giving the phone back to her son. “Are you hurt? Is everyone okay? What did Wonder Woman do?”

“Okay, so,” he shoved the phone back into his pocket and ran into the open area behind them to pantomime the action as he described it to her. “Dad and I were walking from Tony’s pizza place to here. It was about 9:45.” He began to mock stroll. “When all of a sudden we hear this woman scream out that some guy has her purse.” He raised his voice a little and screamed in fake terror to demonstrate. “Before Dad and I could look around, this guy comes rushing past us and pushes me to ground.” Carter dropped to the ground, face down and arms askew. “Then I hear this ‘whoosh’ noise, and I think it’s Supergirl, right?”

He pushed up to sit on the floor. “But, no, it’s _Wonder Woman_ , and she just grabs the guy by the back of his clothes.” He jumped up and made a motion to grab the imaginary attacker. “Then she holds him up in the air and yanks the purse out of his hands.” He pulled his phone out again and pointed to the still darkened screen. “That’s when I got the picture because I was still on the ground, like this.” He sat back down on the ground. “ _Then_ she pushes the bad guy into a waiting police officer’s hand, hands the lady her purse back, and walks over to me to help me up.” He grinned proudly as he stood up. “And do you know what she said to me?”

Cat’s eyes widened with the passing seconds of the story, and she stood there transfixed. Slowly, she shook her head. “No, Carter. What did she say?”

He practically bounced. “She said, ‘I’m sorry I didn’t get to him fast enough to prevent him from knocking you over, young man. Are you hurt?’ But, I mean, I was fine, right, so I shake my head no, and she says, ‘I am glad. Perhaps next time the savior of your city will be here to assist you, but I am glad I was here tonight.’ And I tell her that I’ve met Supergirl, and _she_ says, ‘So have I. She honors us all.’ And then she just,” he threw his hands up and made a swishing sound, “flies away.” With glittering eyes full of excitement, he turned on his heel. “Mom! How _cool_ is that? First Supergirl and now Wonder Woman!”

“That’s amazing,” Kara chimed in, caught up in Carter’s excitement.

“Kara!” The younger Grant ran toward her and tackle hugs her. Despite her strength, she had trouble remaining up right. “You’re here, too!” He pulled back and dropped his arms. For a split second, he looked her up and down and then cocked his head to the side in confusion. “You look different.”

“Yeah,” she shifted uncomfortably under his scrutiny. “Your mom dressed me up tonight. We went to a charity thing together.”

“Oh, that makes sense.” He turned back to his mom. “I know it’s past my bedtime, but I just _had_ to tell you about Wonder Woman.”

“It _is_ late, Carter, but I’m glad you told me. You better go get ready for bed now. Kara and I will be up in a little bit to tuck you in, okay?” Cat waited for her son to say goodnight to everyone and hurry to his room before paying the sitter and ushering her out of the penthouse. “Well, Wonder Woman?” She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows expectantly at the younger blonde.

“Right?!” Kara nearly bounced as much as Carter. “I met her tonight. I,” she quickly realized she was about to give away too much and hoped the lie she was about to tell would pass, “heard something outside when I went with Diana and Dinah to the restroom, so I snuck out to check on it while they were… um.. _busy_.”

“And it was Wonder Woman?” Cat shook her head in disbelief.

“No! I mean, yes, but… okay, just…” Kara took in a deep breath and let it out. “Wonder Woman came to deliver something to me.” She reached into her handbag and pulled out the small lead lined box. “Well, to us, really.” Tossing the purse on the nearby sofa table, she reached up with her free hand and activated the latch to display the ironically dazzling yet tasteful ring inside. “It’s Kryptonite,” she explained through a watery smile. “Just enough.”

Slowly, Cat walked toward Kara’s extended hand, and she carefully reached out with a single finger to gently touch the glowing green stone. “It’s a lot prettier than I thought it would be,” she commented in an awed tone. “Does it work?”

“Oh yeah, it works.” Kara grimaced at the memory of hitting Diana.

Picking the box up and pulling the ring from it, Cat held the piece of jewelry up to get a better look. “The craftsmanship of this ring is exquisite, Kara. Who made it?”

“I honestly don’t know.” The younger woman shook her head against the lightness being exposed to the ring made her feel. “The only thing I know is that a friend trusted whomever it was enough to ask them to make it for me.” She grunted quietly and leaned back against the sofa.

Cat looked up from the ring and raised an eyebrow in challenge. “I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me who the friend is, are you?”

Kara flashed a pained smile. “Batman.”

“Batman.” The older woman seemed to accept the answer with little question. “Kara,” she stepped closer, leaning in with the ring still between them, “are you alright?”

“Yeah, but maybe not?” The younger woman began to slump a little. “With superpowers comes super endurance.” She reached up with one hand to rub at her eyes as she began to tightly grip the sofa with the other to keep her stable. “The ring makes me human-like, which means I have human-like endurance, and I think,” she shook her head again and fought against the slight swaying of her body, “that I may be past the point I can actually handle… as a human.”

Cat’s eyes widened and she quickly stepped back as she pushed the ring into the box and closed it. “You’re exhausted? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t know.” Kara wearily wiped at her face. “With my powers, I can keep going for days without resting, but, without them, it looks like I actually need to crash. I mean, it _has_ been a pretty long couple of weeks.”

“A lot has happened.” Cat looked down at the box protectively clutched in her hand. “Things can wait until you’ve had the chance to rest, but, until then, what do you want to do with this?”

“You keep it.” The color was returning to Kara’s face, and her body had begun to stop swaying. “I trust you to put it some place safe until we, uh… until we need it.” She rolled her eyes at her blush but otherwise ignored it. “Maybe we should call it a night?”

“Yes, I think so.” Cat turned to head upstairs. “Come help me say goodnight to Carter, and then we can go to bed?”

“You want me to spend the night?” Kara was continually surprised the older woman wanted her to invade her space so much, but she was happy to do it. She liked being in Cat’s bubble.

“Only if you want to,” Cat answered neutrally, but Kara knew better. Cat wanted her there, and she wanted to be there.

Nodding, she started toward the stairs. “I can’t wait to wear my cardigan again tomorrow. This dress is pretty, and I got a lot of compliments, but I feel like I can’t move in it.”

Cat smirked. “ _I_ have no regrets putting you in it.”

“Yeah, I’m sure _you_ don’t,” Kara replied with a hint of sarcasm.

Tomorrow was the start of another work week, and Kara was certain everything would be as normal as it gets at Catco. It was that normality she was craving more and more these days. Everything happening in her personal life was great, but she needed a little stability, and there was nothing more stable than the routine of being Ms. Grant’s assistant, Kiera.

Oddly, she was very much looking forward to that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soon...


	18. Release

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara and Cat finally cement things.

Cat watched Kara and Carter tease each other over two bowls of Chex while she sipped her coffee. It made her feel warm inside to see the ease the two of them had with each other, and, if she were completely honest with herself, she felt relieved that Carter had taken such an instant liking to Kara.

It could all have ended so poorly for everyone involved if her son hadn’t like the younger woman. After all, her son was far more important than any fling she might have.

She frowned at herself and turned to make another cup of coffee so that the other two wouldn’t see her sudden change in emotions. Kara wasn’t a fling, and she knew that deeply in a way she’d never felt with anyone before. It was as if the younger woman had completely invaded her senses. There were moments when the Kara was gone either for work or for _work_ in which all Cat could think about was what it felt like when Kara returned to her side.

More and more, it felt comforting and reassuring in an almost physical way, which was strange considering they’d only managed a few rather impressive make out sessions. Never in her life had Cat experienced this feeling of romantic, emotional closeness with someone she hadn’t had sex with.

It was both exhilarating and exasperating for the older woman. She was willing to wait for Kara, but, now that they had the means to ensure both of them could be comfortable with the idea of sex with each other without worry that Cat would end up in the hospital from the experience, her libido was starting to exert itself strongly.

She already knew what Kara looked like nude, and, god, did Cat want to continue exploring _that_ piece of art. She thought she might like to start with just her fingertips, and, after tracing all the well-defined muscles covering the younger woman’s body, she felt very firmly that she’d like to retrace with her tongue everywhere her fingers had been.

Her mind flashed to what that might feel and taste like, and she let out a quiet gasp at the thought.

“Cat?” Kara’s unsteady voice pulled her from her thoughts. “Is everything okay?” She sounded shaken, her voice deeper than usual, husky.

The husky tone took Cat by surprised. Did the other woman know what Cat had been thinking about? Surely not. “I’m fine.” She turned with coffee cup in hand. “I was just thinking about a few _tasty_ possibilities for tonight, _if_ we’re ready.”

“Ready for what?” Carter cocked his head to the side and eyed his mother suspiciously. “You two aren’t working late at the office tonight, are you?”

“No, Carter, I don’t think we will.” Cat gave him a quick, reassuring smile. “I was thinking about what I’d like to eat tonight, that’s all.” She gave the younger woman a quick side glance, and, much to her delight, Kara’s cheeks were a bright pink. “Are you ready to go? I don’t want you late for school, and Kara needs to be at work on time.”

“Yeah,” the other blonde sputter, suddenly kicked into gear by the reminder that this was, after all, a work day. “I, uh, I should probably get going, actually.”

“You have to get ‘Ms. Grant’ her coffee?” Carter rolled his eyes as his mother.

“Hey, it’s all part of the job, and, besides,” Kara walked around the island to put her dishes in the dishwasher and place a quick kiss on the other woman’s cheek, “no one would like it if Ms. Grant went without her coffee.” She smiled brightly at the boy, eyes crinkling around the edges. “She gets _so_ cranky!”

“Yeah, Mom can be really grumpy without her coffee,” he agreed with a nod of his head and a wide grin.

“Okay, I believe you two have ganged up on me enough. Carter, please get ready to leave. Kara,” Cat turned to the woman beside her and leaned in for a proper kiss. “I’ll see you an hour.”

* * *

 

Kara stepped off the employee elevator and winced as all eyes landed on her. Of course, she should have expected it, but it just hadn’t occurred to her until she was physically in her office that everyone there would know about her and Cat.

Awkward didn’t even _begin_ to cover how she felt as she kept her eyes on the ground and made a quick beeline for her desk, Cat’s latte in one hand and her bag in the other. It was just a normal day at the office, she reminded herself despite the judging, suggestive, and piercing looks she was receiving from her coworkers.

She tried to act as if no one was watching her and everything was normal. She tried to pretend the lull in the bullpen hadn’t happened when she walked in. She tried to act like Kara Danvers, Cat Grant’s assistant, but she felt like Kara Danvers, Cat Grant’s latest fling.

She winced at that thought. Fling? Where had that come from? She wasn’t a fling. _Cat_ wasn’t a fling. Could they even be considered each other’s fling considering they’d never done more than kiss and ogle each other’s bodies?

The sound of Cat’s elevator coming to a halt pulled her from her thoughts, and she quickly finished up, grabbed the latte, and said a little prayer of thanks that it was still hot. The elevator doors swooshed open just as she stopped beside them, and Cat walked out, hand already extended for the cup she fully expected to be ready for her.

“Cancel my lunch date today, Kiera,” she demanded as she pulled her glasses off before taking a sip of her latte. “I’m in no mood to deal with Harrison right now. Instead, schedule a manicure appointment." She glanced at the nails on her free hand and snarled a little. "I’ve let them go for too long.”

“Yes, Ms. Grant,” Kara replied in a stiffer than normal voice. She could still feel the eyes of the staff watching them, and it made her want to climb out the nearest window. “Would you like for me to invite Linda Carter? I understand she’s in town on business this week.”

“Is she?” Cat stopped midstride and turned to look at her assistant. “Yes, see if you can get her to join me. It’s been a while. Also, see if you can cancel my 1:30, and let’s try for a lunch/mani mix. Linda always has something interesting going on. With any luck, we might get a lead on a new story.” Cat leaned over just a touch to her left so she could look over the office full of people pretending not to be watching the couple’s every move. “Get back to work,” she barked as she glared across the office space, “I don’t pay you to gossip about my personal life, unless you’re covering the metro section of the Trib.”

Much to Kara’s relief, the sound of people hurriedly going back to work filled in the background noise, and she visibly relaxed as she mouthed a silent ‘thank you’ at the woman directly in front of her.

Cat gave a bare hint of a nod as she turned on her heels to continue on with her day. “Keira, where are those proofs from James? They should’ve been on my desk ten minutes ago.”

The younger woman actually smiled. This was an issue she could easily handle. “I’ll go get them right away, Ms. Grant.”

* * *

 

“Since when do you take on the press?” Alex’s voice sounded tense. “That’s not like you, Kara.”

“Yeah, well,” the younger woman glance around the bullpen to make sure she was alone. “A lot’s been going on, and I think I just, you know, had a moment.”

“You had a moment?” Kara recognized that intonation. She was about to get a speech. “You can’t just _have_ a moment. Do you know how risky it is for you to be this level of exposed? What if the paparazzi decide to start tailing you? What if they find out what your _other_ job is? Can you imagine? I can’t believe you even agreed to go to this. I mean, yes, I understand that you and Cat are dating, and, yeah, I knew you were going to go to that charity event, but I never dreamed you’d decide to make the front cover of the metro section of half the papers in the country.”

Kara huffed in frustration. Her sister had a point, per the usual. “Alex, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Look, I’ll be careful, but I’m not going to be apologetic. I like being with Cat, and she likes being with me, and that means that some risks are involved for both of us. She and I are still working on that balance, but we’ll figure it out and be all the stronger for it.” She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. This phone call had lasted much longer than she liked. It was getting late, and she wanted to leave. “I know you’re just trying to look out for me, but…”

“Someone has to. You’re not looking out for yourself. I was already worried about you going to this thing, but then you had to go and tick off one of the reporters. Kara, what were you thinking? You of all people know how these things work. Once you make yourself a target…”

“…they never let up. Yeah, I know.” The blonde sighed heavily. “To be honest, I’m not really sure what I was thinking. I guess I was sort of, kind of channeling Cat a little bit? But, the guy is a _sleaze_ , Alex. He needed to be put in his place.”

“You’re starting to sound like her,” Alex said with a clipped tone. “I need to go, but I want to talk to you about this some more.”

“Not tonight.” Kara glanced at the time. It was nearing eight, and Cat had long since left to go home to spend time with Carter before getting him off to bed. “I need to be somewhere.”

“That somewhere better involve going to your place and/or working your night job because,” Alex was clearly getting more irritated with each second, “I think you need a break from Cat Grant. She’s starting to be a bad influence on your safety. There’s so much risk…”

“Alex, I get it.” Kara rolled her eyes and stood from her desk as she moved to hang up her desk phone. “I’m going to go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Dropping the receiver into the cradle, Kara ended the call before her sister could get in another word.

Her anger and irritation were only getting worse. Alex meant well, but it wasn’t her place to police Kara, and the unwelcome intrusion made Kara feel edgy and impatient. Her body tingled, and her mind kept running with one thought: She wanted to be with Cat.

It was almost physical. She had been fighting it all day, but the feeling had gotten worse over time. Her skin prickled any time Cat’s familiar scent wafted past her, and her muscles twitched with the need to touch Cat each time the older woman’s voice happened to catch her attention.

The reason she was at work so late was not because of job loyalty. It was because she hadn’t been able to concentrate for most of the day. Cat kept invading her mind. It was as if the other woman had literally gotten into her skin somehow, like her essence had begun to meld with Kara’s. At one point, Kara could swear she almost sensed Cat’s movements within the building.

It was disconcerting and distracting, and, after the phone call with her sister, Kara had reached her limit of restraint. She _needed_ Cat.

Heading for the elevators, she decided to fly and had just hit the button to take her to the roof when her phone rang. She was tempted to ignore it, but something in the back of her mind wouldn’t allow her to not check.

She smiled as she answered, “Hey. I was just thinking about you.”

“I’ve been thinking about you all day.” Cat’s voice was richer than normal. “In fact, you are all I’ve been able to think about since this morning. It’s incredibly annoying.”

Kara chuckled. “I know the feeling.”

“Carter is in his room for the night, and my bedroom’s patio doors are unlocked.” Cat’s voice began to grow deeper. “I want you here… now.”

The younger woman stepped onto the roof and glanced around to make certain she was alone. “I want to be there. Give me ten minutes.”

Cat growled over the line. “Break the sound barrier.”

Kara could hear her own voice drop, and her body vibrate with her desire to be with other woman. “I’ll be there in two.”

* * *

 

Kara stepped purposefully through the open patio doors and inhaled deeply at the sight of Cat Grant waiting in bed for her.

“That, um, that…” She hated herself for not being able to form a coherent sentence, but the older woman was stunning laid out like that. “Black is a… a _really_ good color on you,” she finally managed to get out through her sudden breathlessness.

“I’m glad you like it.” Cat pushed to lean against the headboard, running a hand down the silky material of the negligée she had slipped on a few moments before.

“Very much,” Kara practically growled as she slowly made her way to the bed. Bending over the side the other woman occupied, her cape fell, dragging across Cat’s exposed legs and giving Kara the intense joy of hearing the older woman’s quick intake of air at the light brush of the material against her skin. “Cat,” she breathed in a hushed and almost worshipful whisper, “I really want to touch you.”

“I want to slowly peel that suit off of you inch by inch so I can enjoy savoring every bit of skin underneath it,” Cat replied in a needy tone, moving to pull the younger woman down for a heated kiss. “I know I said we would wait, but…”

“I don’t want to wait.” Kara cut in as she pulled back to slowly lick her lips as her eyes lowered to take in the woman before her. “I can’t stop thinking about you, about this.” She leaned forward, just a hair’s breadth away from other woman’s waiting lips. “Cat, please.”

Cat closed the gap, reaching forward to wrap her hands in the younger woman’s hair as she moved backwards, pulling Kara on top of her. “Top drawer,” she breathed between kisses. “Nightstand on the right.”

Kara reluctantly pushed away to reach the drawer and pull out the small lead box. With reverence, she sat back on the bed and looked down at the item in the palm of her hand.

“Kara, we still don’t have to do this.” The other woman sat up again, reaching out to place her hand on top of the box where it rested in the Kara’s palm.

The younger woman nodded as she stared at the box with a look that danced between fear and yearning. “Will you put it on me?” She licked her lips and looked up anxiously, wanting reassurance that this was okay. She needed to know what she was asking, all of what she was asking, was something the other woman was willing to give, to do.

Cat gently nodded, slowly picking the box up and opening it. The stone shone brightly in the darkened room, and she took a few seconds to admire it before pulling it from its resting place and dropping the box back inside the nightstand. “You know,” she said in a hushed tone, “it feels like there should be some kind of ceremony involved in this.”

“Maybe another time,” Kara offered with a small, uncertain smile as the ring settled into place, and her body begin to feel heavier. She held her hand up for a moment to stare at the ring before dropping it to her side and turning her full attention back to the other woman. “What happens first?”

“First,” Cat replied with a grin, “You show me how to get this,” she reached out to run a finger along one of the red seams of Kara’s suit, “off.”

The younger woman swallowed thickly and nodded. “There’s a zipper…”

* * *

 

The most amazing part to Kara was the overwhelming sensation of being touched everywhere and feeling that it wasn’t enough.

Cat’s fingers traced along every muscle Kara had, and the younger woman didn’t bother to hold back the moans and sighs Cat’s touch brought from her, nor did she bother to stop the gasps and pleading, mewling sounds that escaped her throat when Cat’s mouth followed the line her feather light touches had drawn.

Every touch, every kiss, every caress was world shaking to Kara, and her whole body felt tense and wildly full of chaotic electricity. Never had she imagined being touched by another person could feel so amazing, and, in her more lucid moments, she marveled at the power of the emotions this closeness pulled from her.

When Cat’s mouth found her breast for the first time, she groaned and arched her back to beg the older woman for more, and she felt herself letting go of the apprehension she’d held leading up to this moment. It floated away on a wave of pleasure that trickled through her body and beat in time to the flick of Cat’s tongue across her nipple.

When Cat’s fingers and mouth found the plains of her stomach, she gasped with something that approached pain but landed on the side of pleasure she’d never considered before, and she felt herself let go of her fears and give into the promises she felt radiate from Cat’s light kisses and sharp nips. Promises that said she was going to take care of Kara, and Kara believed fully in those promises.

When Cat stopped moving down her torso and waited until Kara met her eyes to ask, one more time, if the younger woman was sure, Kara nodded and spoke a hoarse yes, and the sensation of Cat’s tongue running across her center forced her head back and her hands to dig into the covers on either side of her. In that instant, she felt herself give Cat the one thing she thought she’d already given, but, until _that_ moment, she realized she hadn’t fully done. She gave Cat her trust.

It took time. Cat learned what made Kara groan and tense and what didn’t seem to do anything for the younger woman. Time vanished for Kara as Cat worked her body, learning, and, when the older woman finally settled on what made Kara tip over the edge, the younger woman gave Cat something even more precious than her trust.

Kara gave Cat her faith.

* * *

 

Kara’s breaths came in quick, rapid succession. She couldn’t feel her body. Everything tingled, and it was amazing. She felt both heavy and light. She was elated and a little dizzy. It took what seemed like forever before she could even open her eyes, but, when she did, it only took her a few seconds to dopily grin at the woman looking over at her from the other side of the bed.

“Are you alright?” Cat raised an eyebrow and smirked. “I thought I’d lost you there for a moment.”

“I’m _great_ ,” Kara declared with just a hint of a giggle. “ _That_ was great.” She struggled to push herself onto her side, and grunted with the effort to move. “ _You_ were great.” She reached out to run her fingers gently over Cat’s mouth.

Cat chuckled, catching Kara’s unsteady fingers in her hand and laying a gentle kiss on her fingertips. “I’m glad you think so. Just think how much better it’ll be once I figure out exactly what you like.”

The younger woman’s eyes grew as her eyebrows flew up in surprise. “It can get _better_ than _that_?”

“Of course,” Cat held Kara’s hand in her own and gave it a squeeze. “It’s like anything else. It gets better with practice and communication. You tell me what you did and didn’t like, and I’ll try to learn from it so that it _can_ get better.”

Kara shook her head few times and tried to blink away the sudden tiredness that swept through her body. “I want you to teach me.” She scooted forward to press as much as she could against Cat. “I want to know what _you_ like. I want to make you feel as wonderful as you just made me feel. I want to learn _everything_.” She leaned in and kissed the older woman enthusiastically. “And I really want to know what the great Cat Grant looks like after having a mind blowing orgasm.”

“Well,” Cat rolled onto her back, once again pulling Kara on top of her, “there’s only one way for you to find out.” She shot the other woman a challenging smirk. “I like a little nibbling,” she pointed to her neck, “here,” and then slowly pulled her hand down her body, making sure Kara’s eyes followed, “and here,” she pointed at her breasts. “Start there, and we’ll work through the rest of the details.”

Kara slowly licked her lips. “I can’t believe I finally get to do this,” she breathed out as she leaned in to kiss and nip at Cat’s neck.

Cat groaned, wrapping her arms around the other woman and digging her nails into Kara’s back. “Don’t leave marks where people can see them. The rest is fair game.”

The younger woman laughed quietly as she moved around to pay attention to the opposite side of Cat’s neck. “Yes, Ms. Grant.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, very sorry this took so long, but I had to figure out how I was going to show their first time. I don't write smut particularly well, and I really wanted to show the emotional connection, so I'm hoping this translated well from what I intended to what I actually wrote. 
> 
> Also, I believe this story will be done in a few more chapters. I am kind of hinting at something more going on with Kara and Cat, but that would be something for a different story if this is something you guys want to see continued.
> 
> Anywhoozle... thanks for reading! Reviews are welcome. :-)


	19. Connections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few threads left loose, but otherwise a wrap up to this story.

Cat awoke slowly to the feel of stiff muscles and aches here and there from what she could only happily assume were bite marks on inconspicuous places along her body. She inhaled deeply as she stretched, reaching out to the other side of the bed to find, much to her irritation, it was empty.

Scowling, she opened her eyes to glare around for Kara but stopped short of barking out a snide remark for being left alone in bed in the morning. Instead, she took in a quiet breath and smiled as her eyes landed on the younger woman standing on the balcony in nothing but underwear and a sports bra.

Cat quietly watched as the woman before her turned her body toward the rising sun and seemed to glow with the warmth that ran through the morning rays. The older woman felt warmer just watching the display, smirking just a touch at Kara’s messy ponytail and upstretched arms.

Quietly, she slipped out of bed, grabbing the nearest free thing to wrap around herself as she made her way to the patio. “Hello, Sunshine.”

“Hey,” Kara turned and gave her best dazzling smile. “Did I wake you?”

“No, I woke up on my own.” Cat couldn’t stop the dopey smile on her face, which both annoyed her and didn’t. Just this once, it might be okay to be a little dopey. “You look refreshed.”

The younger blonde nodded toward the sun. “What can I say? I’m solar powered.”

“How do you feel?” Glancing down, Cat noticed the ring was gone. “Are you back to full strength?”

“As far as I can tell. I’d go for a test flight, but I don’t want to chance some random reporter who might be on stakeout to get the money shot.” Kara sighed heavily. “That’s going to be an issue.”

“We’ll deal with the chips as they fall.” Stepping closer, Cat snuggled up to the taller woman, humming contently when she was pulled into a loving embrace. With just a touch, everything suddenly felt even better. “And how do you feel now that you’ve actually had sex?”

Kara snorted. “Like me but with achier muscles and,” she took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as she gave the question serious thought, “I don’t know. I’m the same me I was yesterday, but something definitely feels different, like…” She trailed off and pulled back to look the petite woman in the eyes. “Is it too melodramatic to say it was life changing but in a subtle way?”

“Maybe,” Cat tilted her head and smirked, “but you _are_ a Millennial, and I know how you younger kids like to over exaggerate.”

Rolling her eyes, Kara turned back toward the sun again and tilted her body into its warmth. “I’m going to give you a pass on that one because you look adorable wrapped in my cape.”

Glancing down as her eyebrows went up in surprise, Cat chuckled. “Well, I think I’ve officially fulfilled most of the women who like woman fantasies about you, and I wasn’t even trying.”

Kara shot a quick side glance at the other woman. “Do you really think there are people out there who fantasize about being wrapped up in my cape?”

“Sunshine,” Cat replied in a playful though slightly patronizing tone, “I can guarantee you that there are a _ton_ of people, of _all_ genders, out there who fantasize about all manner of ways they could manage to have sex with you and then wake up the next morning wrapped in nothing but your cape. You’re an icon, you’re incredibly attractive, and who doesn’t want to have sex with a superhero?” Cat grinned triumphantly and pulled the material closer to her nude body.

Kara made a small, amused noise in her throat. “Something tells me you’ve actually had this fantasy yourself.”

“The world may never know,” Cat replied with a wink. “I’m going to go take a shower and get ready for the day.” She strolled into the bedroom, dropping the cape onto the bed as she passed it and smirking at the feel of Kara’s eyes on her as she moved.

She could very much get used to that feeling.

* * *

“You look different.” James walked around Kara’s desk to lean against it. “What happened?”

“Nothing!” She looked up from her work and could feel the sudden panic flush through her system. “I mean, what would make you say I look different? What’s different?”

He chuckled, giving his head a slow couple of shakes. “Well, for one, you’re actually concentrating, which is a change from how you’ve been for about three weeks now, and, for two, I don’t know, you’re holding yourself a little differently. I think maybe you’re sitting up straighter?”

“Am I?” She shifted around in her chair to check. “Huh, that’s weird, but I think you’re right.” She shrugged it off. “Cat sits like this a lot. Maybe some of her habits are starting to rub off on me?”

“Maybe.” Reaching into the folder he was carrying, he pulled out a photo and dropped it onto her desk. “This came in over the weekend, and I thought you and Cat might want it.”

Kara plucked the photo from her desk and grinned as she looked it over. It was from the Wayne charity event. She and Cat were standing on the red carpet, and it must have been just a few moments after her meltdown because she could see the shocked faces of the people around them, but the look on hers and Cat's faces was what had Kara’s full attention.

They were gazing at each other. Cat’s face was full of admiration, respect, pride, and care, and Kara’s face mirrored it. Kara’s arm rested within the secure hold of Cat’s, and it looked like they saw no one but each other. The entire would could be on fire, but they would never have noticed.

She chewed on her bottom lip as she thought about that moment in time. It had seemed surreal as the events had unfolded, but, looking back on it, she realized that it made sense that she stepped up to take the reporter on. He’d tried to hurt her mate, and that was absolutely not something she would allow to happen if she could stop it.

The word ‘mate’ passing through her mind made her freeze and her face drop into a small terrified expression. That was not the right word. That couldn’t be right. That…

“KARA!” Cat’s voice bolted through the office, and everyone turned to stare. The boss hadn’t just yelled at her assistant/girlfriend. She had used the younger woman’s real name. Someone was in massive amounts of trouble.

“I should probably go see what… umm… you know.” James nodded understandingly as she pushed awkwardly away from her desk and headed toward Cat’s office with the photo still clutched in her hand.

“Yes, Ms. Grant?” Kara cautiously entered the office and glanced around, half expecting to see objects being hurled at her.

“What happened last night,” Cat began in a tight, controlled tone, “has done something to us, hasn’t it?”

“I, uh,” Kara nervously pushed her glasses up and fidgeted as she tried to figure out what was happening. “I’m honestly not sure. I mean, I don’t _think_ so, but I’m not saying you’re wrong. I’m just… um… well, I mean what… uh… what makes you think something is going on?”

“Because,” Cat dropped her glasses onto her desk and leaned back in her chair, “the word ‘mate’ just ran through my mind very randomly, and I suddenly had an almost impossible urge to walk out there and sit in your lap or otherwise have physical contact with you.”

“Oh.” The younger woman crossed her arms over herself and swallowed. “Well, I… okay, it’s just that I never thought that… okay, so on my home…”

“Just stop there. Your awkwardness is giving me a headache.” Cat pinched the bridge of her nose and took in a few calming breaths. “We’ll talk about this tonight after Carter goes to bed. In the meantime, please try to control whatever this,” she motioned between them, “is because we both have too much work to do to be that kind of distracted.”

Kara nodded a little too vigorously. “Okay, I’ll try. I think I know what caused it, and I just won’t do that right now.” She shifted her weight and frowned. If this was really what she thought, was Cat going to hate her forever? It certainly wasn’t something she ever imagined would happen on Earth. How could it? Sure, Kal and his girlfriend had proven that there was _some_ compatibility between the two species, but this? And what if Cat thought Kara had been dishonest? What if she thought Kara had tricked her in some way? God, what if Cat regretted everything, _especially_ last night? What if…

“Stop.” Cat narrowed her eyes and pointed with the leg of her glasses. “I regret nothing. Quit worrying about it.”

Kara’s eyes bulged with panic. “Oh my god, Cat, can you read my mind?”

The older woman rolled her eyes and pushed her glasses back on. “No, Sunshine, I just know how you think. We’ll deal with whatever this is later. In the meantime, we both have work to do, and,” an explosion outside shook the building, stopping whatever else she was about to add. “And be careful. I’ll see you when you’re done working tonight.” Looking up to give Kara a glance full of all the unsaid emotions that went with knowing exactly where the younger woman was about to go and how dangerous it was, she added with a smirk, “And bring home dinner when you come. I have a feeling it’s about to be a late work night.”

Chuckling with relief, Kara nodded. “I’ll see what I can.” With a return of the same look she’d just been given, she rushed out of the office and toward the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whelp... another story in the series, then?
> 
> I really enjoy trying to keep these stories within the theme of the titles. Did anyone notice that, or am I not hitting that mark? Hmmm... well, anyway, thank you all for reading this, and I very much hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> As always, reviews are very much welcomed and deeply loved and appreciated. (Seriously, they make my day.)


End file.
